Ambien...I don't like you anymore!

<b>Goodbye Ambien</b> <br />As my 3-year old grand-niece said with her hands on her hips, after her mother made her angry, "I've decided I don't like you anymore!".<br /><br />Three nights in a row, after taking Ambien, I've basically sleep-walked and ate food I didn't plan to eat or remember eating. The first two nights it wasn't too bad, a few extra pieces of fruit that I didn't remember eating, but last night: <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYewCQONrm4UD_jJmHIib8wzFoldLoQKBfBAAEGsk9jkp-N_RoLJkxVirH6xC5QEa51cs2LjoFY3esSRhJANjmOZz-Fvd4_-NBwrR-JEhlXwaMGnrdjKYhFa0d0Gyr9fRsqLB_Z1IplMCG/s1600/chips2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYewCQONrm4UD_jJmHIib8wzFoldLoQKBfBAAEGsk9jkp-N_RoLJkxVirH6xC5QEa51cs2LjoFY3esSRhJANjmOZz-Fvd4_-NBwrR-JEhlXwaMGnrdjKYhFa0d0Gyr9fRsqLB_Z1IplMCG/s320/chips2.jpg" width="320px" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This was a full 8-cup container of chips (my husband's food, not mine). Worse than eating the chips is the conversation I had with my husband as I was eating them which I totally don't remember. Something about I had been good for six weeks and I deserved a treat. Approximately 600 calories!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bye-bye Ambien. Hello sleepless in Seattle.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Best huumus in the world and I made it!</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks to <a href="http://ohshegkows.com/">ohshegkows.com</a> recipe, <a href="http://ohsheglows.com/2010/12/04/the-hummus-that-changed-everything/">The Hummus That Changed Everything</a>.</div><br />There's no oil in the recipe, but I drizzled olive oil over it, as Angela suggested. The first time I used a whole teaspoon, which was too much. The next time I only used 1/2 teaspoon which was perfect. Scrumptious!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYrmgwrEQ8PKy3aePQ-_2SZowadii7qN-jGPmlZA5_I2Pb9Zc-P3DjSNGnQkrbyD9dCn1-hLfAbYl3SWipzEH2IcjFSy0jEtnT_hSPqinuMgoVmgadtRTBYcRG4TNr78Oetv4ic_6BlJOE/s1600/hummus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" height="240px" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYrmgwrEQ8PKy3aePQ-_2SZowadii7qN-jGPmlZA5_I2Pb9Zc-P3DjSNGnQkrbyD9dCn1-hLfAbYl3SWipzEH2IcjFSy0jEtnT_hSPqinuMgoVmgadtRTBYcRG4TNr78Oetv4ic_6BlJOE/s320/hummus.jpg" width="320px" /></b></a></div><br /><b>Dash Point Park hike yesterday</b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The stairs</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBAox5Ar8WTnHtrFYlBJZHBgcdtxURV70rkFpoyTyqX_LCSxXPGEPhNDROcFIwogsFVEFsa9ONTkk0KK4Qff5A60qJggEaP8CVdVPzWE_fNXPHYv3D9bW_DWCdF_HDBgMbUfcyh_tqf_dG/s1600/stairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBAox5Ar8WTnHtrFYlBJZHBgcdtxURV70rkFpoyTyqX_LCSxXPGEPhNDROcFIwogsFVEFsa9ONTkk0KK4Qff5A60qJggEaP8CVdVPzWE_fNXPHYv3D9bW_DWCdF_HDBgMbUfcyh_tqf_dG/s320/stairs.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Puget Sound, worth the short hike.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaK40X3G9m4S3Nidb5U2Pat5fZsErIpvcrBGdkSn9dokrnt-YD3J6mqE1qh4GfT1SJBnXBD-jUagyy5pXTFykvtCLN6ShdH8PSfY17wApkZ73NDRpUmAmnh5GDNjDjkArHVM23gX76EeuF/s1600/view2+dp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaK40X3G9m4S3Nidb5U2Pat5fZsErIpvcrBGdkSn9dokrnt-YD3J6mqE1qh4GfT1SJBnXBD-jUagyy5pXTFykvtCLN6ShdH8PSfY17wApkZ73NDRpUmAmnh5GDNjDjkArHVM23gX76EeuF/s320/view2+dp.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6K5QHddhOSdA2Yx11t-TRzIlVd3ALiG5Pd2LZdOvu4LbxvQicT-YLohxRDI1UALzuckaLhOnPZ5MlZbYQzfdnADNhBjSUS0WAx5nEuhfox8ryWcGjW5MRJ7n9pUhOpG3NxaljMPrrJcwl/s1600/view3+dp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6K5QHddhOSdA2Yx11t-TRzIlVd3ALiG5Pd2LZdOvu4LbxvQicT-YLohxRDI1UALzuckaLhOnPZ5MlZbYQzfdnADNhBjSUS0WAx5nEuhfox8ryWcGjW5MRJ7n9pUhOpG3NxaljMPrrJcwl/s320/view3+dp.jpg" width="240px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><br /><b>Today's hike, my usual trail by my house</b><br />It was 85 degrees and I think I overdid it. It was worth it though because I found a great blackberry patch (and no people!).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Mt. Rainier</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgksjZ0HF4unqqlGV8yjRElViVy03vVlLC-GuamIw2Mb-lGwxE9bTlXUYu8frATCrpkMdOnvfY02zatxmhABb3RJOnjNOCRUk2XFsN0h_yt_H0DQYWf0GzMdy0S_w87frUPsipps_OheEGA/s1600/rainier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgksjZ0HF4unqqlGV8yjRElViVy03vVlLC-GuamIw2Mb-lGwxE9bTlXUYu8frATCrpkMdOnvfY02zatxmhABb3RJOnjNOCRUk2XFsN0h_yt_H0DQYWf0GzMdy0S_w87frUPsipps_OheEGA/s400/rainier.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Great weather, but dead, brown grass. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51Z9F8A0XaFGK22SYgXLfPRWWswx9OOryfHvFfUT8xnJbddLz7UdxKLdj7kOOR3GdP5a6YFNm7QVyqCVVvFESJzo-SsD-xoiGN4CRYjoXj6O5ZhjuEu-fT17Sq-1kUQ_ZVjomB063i_IW/s1600/bn+grass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi51Z9F8A0XaFGK22SYgXLfPRWWswx9OOryfHvFfUT8xnJbddLz7UdxKLdj7kOOR3GdP5a6YFNm7QVyqCVVvFESJzo-SsD-xoiGN4CRYjoXj6O5ZhjuEu-fT17Sq-1kUQ_ZVjomB063i_IW/s400/bn+grass.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Perfect blackberries</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pV1sdwmVG3KCdsPVs_eY8VItKHTKriAScyJgh5zttFJUnD3rnZVnot0Ees_GEAaV-vXSJkmqBUOTBd9vpYqeZxYnt_zmEGBLPHDR028LGKAZ0o0t_Tox7tipFzJoMbr1u9cCjuAyZfPV/s1600/cast+and+bkberries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pV1sdwmVG3KCdsPVs_eY8VItKHTKriAScyJgh5zttFJUnD3rnZVnot0Ees_GEAaV-vXSJkmqBUOTBd9vpYqeZxYnt_zmEGBLPHDR028LGKAZ0o0t_Tox7tipFzJoMbr1u9cCjuAyZfPV/s320/cast+and+bkberries.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxhmE4DfDnRhGnzDV4BL0TAvVjYaoDQl3ERyJaksGO9KeQAecSBdxg6Lg9rWRcBTaUc2T5RS2ULeVrW6r9Laorn6rbZp8qJMxcCdzTBh6nlAPIuT9muJOkC9ADCV8AsqgV4FNL_3QLHPap/s1600/2+bk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxhmE4DfDnRhGnzDV4BL0TAvVjYaoDQl3ERyJaksGO9KeQAecSBdxg6Lg9rWRcBTaUc2T5RS2ULeVrW6r9Laorn6rbZp8qJMxcCdzTBh6nlAPIuT9muJOkC9ADCV8AsqgV4FNL_3QLHPap/s320/2+bk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My cat's Halloween costume That I bought her yesterday. And if looks could kill...I'd be dead. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Things I do to entertain myself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj_ArgO3HV0EdrlTtdAFsu8LSr4Yw9UhrIYmxPrPGPog8bDIooazj-Uprur-gJVa83EZaAcnDlfmRiHM0If1LgxpiAWqrPGMEnL8-_BTDTEI1pFJsE1CvGroLJrSVzwbZVU0xIWqb-r8T/s1600/missy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglj_ArgO3HV0EdrlTtdAFsu8LSr4Yw9UhrIYmxPrPGPog8bDIooazj-Uprur-gJVa83EZaAcnDlfmRiHM0If1LgxpiAWqrPGMEnL8-_BTDTEI1pFJsE1CvGroLJrSVzwbZVU0xIWqb-r8T/s320/missy.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">My hair. Some of the hideous ash toner has washed out. My bangs are growing out, but still too short. Looking at this picture I can see why I got the senior (62+) discount at the movies last week. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I'm only 56. :)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPlSfJqMVAog59ZDVbZeTx76cx3QnI3H8wW_LUhfij4tfI29QcEkt-rkOuxbyVXCoGRtjBi6lyUZJHxBBmw2a9E81_Vznzq1YRjt-cNsoc14YHCv6bYypRFQBJPaEPg5UyLa9BqW0EsZQ/s1600/183.4_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPlSfJqMVAog59ZDVbZeTx76cx3QnI3H8wW_LUhfij4tfI29QcEkt-rkOuxbyVXCoGRtjBi6lyUZJHxBBmw2a9E81_Vznzq1YRjt-cNsoc14YHCv6bYypRFQBJPaEPg5UyLa9BqW0EsZQ/s320/183.4_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b></b>

Ambien...I don't like you anymore!

Goodbye Ambien As my 3-year old grand-niece said with her hands on her hips, after her mother made her angry, "I've decided I don&...

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More TeachMeet ideas from the Partners in Learning Institute week in July 2011

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="127"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="198"><span closure_uid_z1l4wa="187" style="font-family: inherit;">In a previous post I mentioned about <em>TeachMeets </em>that we were introduced to at the Partners in Learning Institute in July 2011.  At that stage some of us had never even heard of the concept before but we loved the idea and have taken it back to our countries.  We were videoed presenting our teachmeets, but the file is too big to process. However, some of the innovative participators have redone their presentations and have uploaded them to a video site! Here they are to date!</span></div></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="127"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" closure_uid_z1l4wa="128" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="194"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="237"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span closure_uid_z1l4wa="207" style="font-family: inherit;"><strong closure_uid_z1l4wa="239">1. Arjana on Vodpad</strong></span></span></div></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="194"><br /></div></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="206"><embed allowscriptaccess="never" base="http://content.screencast.com/users/arjana/folders/Jing/media/8ccf28b9-234a-4665-9789-f52308c7eed2/" false="" flashvars="quality=high&bgcolor=#FFFFFF&containerwidth=1280&containerheight=1024&thumb=http://content.screencast.com/users/arjana/folders/Jing/media/8ccf28b9-234a-4665-9789-f52308c7eed2/FirstFrame.jpg&content=http://content.screencast.com/users/arjana/folders/Jing/media/8ccf28b9-234a-4665-9789-f52308c7eed2/TeachMeet.swf&blurover=false&allowfullscreen=" height="415" src="http://content.screencast.com/users/arjana/folders/Jing/media/8ccf28b9-234a-4665-9789-f52308c7eed2/jingswfplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" wmode="transparent"></embed> </div><div style="font-size: 0.9em;"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="192"><a href="http://vodpod.com/watch/15320705-my-first-teach-meet-session">My first Teach Meet Session</a></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="193">- Watch more <a href="http://vodpod.com/tech">Tech Videos</a> at <a href="http://vodpod.com/">Vodpod</a>.</div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" closure_uid_z1l4wa="129" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="209"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://vodpod.com/watch/15320584-teach-meet-session"><span closure_uid_z1l4wa="210" style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">http://vodpod.com/watch/15320584-teach-meet-session</span></a></span></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="209"><br /></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="209"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="246"><strong>2. B<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span closure_uid_z1l4wa="199" style="font-family: inherit;">ram on YouTube</span></span></strong></div></div></div><br /><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="214"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="247"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kNRajKnb6t8" width="420"></iframe></div></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" closure_uid_z1l4wa="176" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" closure_uid_z1l4wa="138" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="248"><strong><span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; color: #333333;"><span closure_uid_z1l4wa="160"><span closure_uid_z1l4wa="215" style="font-family: inherit;">3. Bart on YouTube</span></span></span></strong></div></div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/n7isb04QZ8Y" width="420"></iframe><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" closure_uid_z1l4wa="157" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" closure_uid_z1l4wa="168" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="253"><strong>4. Yugoslava used Screenr</strong></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="253"><strong><br /> </strong></div></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="396" src="http://www.screenr.com/embed/htMs" width="420"></iframe><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" closure_uid_z1l4wa="159" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="233">http:<a href="http://www.screenr.com/htMs"><span closure_uid_z1l4wa="224" style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">//www.screenr.com/htMs</span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: #edeff4; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></div></div><div closure_uid_z1l4wa="127"><br /></div></div><br />I am hoping that this idea of <i>Teachmeets</i> will really spread in South Africa. This is a great way to share integration-with-technology ideas. If you hold a TeachMeet in your area PLEASE let us know about it! </div>

teachmeets More TeachMeet ideas from the Partners in Learning Institute week in July 2011

In a previous post I mentioned about TeachMeets that we were introduced to at the Partners in Learning Institute in July 2011.  At that stag...

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When did you last use Skype in your classroom?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div closure_uid_psidq7="127"></div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="131">Skype is a programme that can connect teachers and pupils all over the globe FOR FREE – yet many schools are unaware of its amazing potential. All you need is a computer connected to the internet in the classroom! Want to know more?</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="131"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="132"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="106"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>How do you get started?</strong></span></div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="132"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="190">If you haven’t tried Skype before it is really worth giving it a try. Skype has recently started to make it a lot easier for teachers to find each other by creating a Skype in the classroom website. Now there is no excuse to start using Skype! Why don’t you take a look? <a href="http://education.skype.com/">http://education.skype.com/</a> Click on the picture below! It shows the latest educators to join the site. </div><div closure_uid_ev1l8u="116" closure_uid_psidq7="133"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="133"><br /></div><div class="separator" closure_uid_ev1l8u="153" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://education.skype.com/"><img border="0" height="155" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4l6G7PY2xRzrKp4C_r48j50iW52xZCRR2BVhFw1s-jL_RkZkPJubxrcJ2U5SOHnfGiFr4E8wdwALv_H4-jU_TZQ-kTv9xG57Mp2iQ5AU7MY2pkVWdoFoS2s6OBCdAzhmAxgBXMQ2bpA/s400/newest+skype.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="133"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="134"><strong><span closure_uid_2zi1i7="111" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">10 way chat is a great new feature</span></strong></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="110" closure_uid_psidq7="134"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="135">Version 5 which came out last year brought out some fantastic new features the best of which has to be the 10 way video chat which is brilliant! I am not sure if this facility is free. </div><div closure_uid_psidq7="135"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="174"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="109"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong closure_uid_2zi1i7="108">How can Skype for Educators help you?</strong></span></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="109"><br /></div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="178">The <a href="http://education.skype.com/">http://education.skype.com/</a>website has a whole list of projects to get involved in:</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="178"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="294"><iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/21655503?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400"></iframe></div><a href="http://vimeo.com/21655503">How to find a project on Skype in the classroom</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user6382390">Skype in the classroom</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="136">There is step by step instruction on how to get started and find like-minded teachers:</div><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="137"><iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/21665486?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400"></iframe></div><a href="http://vimeo.com/21665486">How to create a profile and find a teacher</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user6382390">Skype in the classroom</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="138"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="139">There are many resources to explore:</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="139"><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/21662447?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400"></iframe><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/21662447">How to find a resource on Skype in the classroom</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user6382390">Skype in the classroom</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br /><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="140"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong closure_uid_psidq7="295">Where else can you find classrooms to Skype with? </strong></span></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="296">1. Edublogs gives a whole directory of teachers looking for Skype partners. They have even added the time zone of the teachers which is something that is important to note. </div><div closure_uid_psidq7="297"><a href="http://theedublogger.com/want-to-connect-with-other-classrooms/">http://theedublogger.com/want-to-connect-with-other-classrooms/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="297"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="354">2. The Skype in schools wiki: </div><div closure_uid_psidq7="354"><a closure_uid_psidq7="358" href="http://skypeinschools.pbworks.com/">http://skypeinschools.pbworks.com/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="362"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="362">3. Around the world in 80 days Skype project: </div><div closure_uid_psidq7="362"><a href="http://aroundtheworldwith80schools.wikispaces.com/">http://aroundtheworldwith80schools.wikispaces.com/</a></div><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="372"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="112">4. Want-ads - looking for educators to skype with:</div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="373"><a href="http://skypeinschools.pbworks.com/w/page/11008389/Want-Ads">http://skypeinschools.pbworks.com/w/page/11008389/Want-Ads</a></div><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="141"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="113"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>What sort of things can you do with Skype in the classroom?</strong></span></div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="141"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="377">1. You can debate!</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="378"><a href="http://loisath.edublogs.org/2009/08/29/student-inter-school-debating-with-skype/">Student Inter-school Debating with Skype</a> by Lois Smethurst</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="617"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="616"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="114">2. Here are 10 great ideas: </div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="650"><a href="http://blog.learningtoday.com/blog/bid/41726/10-Ways-to-Use-Skype-in-the-Classroom?source=Blog_Email_%5b10+Ways+to+Use+Skype%5d">10 Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom</a></div><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="379"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="115">3. You can even give students skype jobs in the classroom! <a href="http://langwitches.org/blog/2010/04/11/skype-jobs-for-students/">http://langwitches.org/blog/2010/04/11/skype-jobs-for-students/</a></div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="379"><br /></div><div closure_uid_5jssid="117">4. What about inviting an author? Here is a post about the author and illustrator Mike Artell</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="383"><a href="http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/02/12/skyping-in-mike-artell-illustrator-author/">http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/02/12/skyping-in-mike-artell-illustrator-author/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="383"><br /></div>5. This is another post about author and illustrator Jan and Phil Huling-<br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="387"><a href="http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/05/24/skyping-in-author-and-illustrator-jan-phil-huling/">http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/05/24/skyping-in-author-and-illustrator-jan-phil-huling/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="387"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="391">6. A post by Jack Kenny lists some of the ideas she has noticed: <br /><a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6090279">http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6090279</a> </div><div closure_uid_psidq7="391"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="391">7. This is a popular post showing 50 things you can do with Skype:</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="392"><a href="http://www.teachingdegree.org/2009/06/30/50-awesome-ways-to-use-skype-in-the-classroom/">http://www.teachingdegree.org/2009/06/30/50-awesome-ways-to-use-skype-in-the-classroom/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="396"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="396"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="116">8. More ideas from Shelley Terrell: </div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="397"><a href="http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2010/05/28/motivating-adult-learners-skype-an-expert/">http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2010/05/28/motivating-adult-learners-skype-an-expert/</a></div><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="142"><strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Did you know that experts are willing to come into your classroom?</span></strong></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="142"><br /></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="117">1. A list of experts willing to skype into your classroom:</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="401"><a href="http://www.skypeforeducators.com/educators.htm">http://www.skypeforeducators.com/educators.htm</a></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="118" closure_uid_psidq7="401"><br /></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="119">2. Skype an author network:</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="405"><a href="http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/">http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="181"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="143"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="120"><strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Want a few tips before you start?</span></strong></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="120"><br /></div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="144"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="121">1. Watch a great video by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano’s Presentation ‘<a href="http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/12/16/k12online09/">Around the World with Skype</a>” to get you started</div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="144"><br /></div><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="300" src="http://blip.tv/play/hOsmgbH1PQI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" wmode="transparent"></embed><br /><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="145">2. Skype tips: </div><div closure_uid_psidq7="409"><a href="http://room202.edublogs.org/skype-tips/">http://room202.edublogs.org/skype-tips/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="409"><br /></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="129"><div closure_uid_5jssid="119">3. How I taught skype to my class by Coolcat Teacher. Vicki has also added a detailed step-by-step video in her post. </div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="413"><a href="http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/10/using-skype-in-classroom-or-just.html">http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/10/using-skype-in-classroom-or-just.html</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="413"><br /></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="130">4. Dummies guide to Skype:</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="417"><a href="http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/using-skype-at-school.html">http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/using-skype-at-school.html</a></div><br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="422"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="131"><strong><span closure_uid_psidq7="421" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Livebinders with Skype resources</span></strong></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="131"><br /></div></div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="132">A Livebinder is a great way to share a variety of resources on a topic. There are several good Skype livebinders to explore.</div><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="133"><br /></div>1. Making connections with Skype<br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="423"><a href="http://livebinders.com/play/present?id=25372">http://livebinders.com/play/present?id=25372</a></div><br />2. Skype in the classroom<br /><div closure_uid_psidq7="482"><a href="http://livebinders.com/play/play?id=8641">http://livebinders.com/play/play?id=8641</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="482"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="147"><strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Recording your Skype sessions</span></strong></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="147"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="516">1. <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/automatically-record-skype-calls/">Automatically Recording Skype Calls with MP3 Skype</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="516"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="531">2. <a href="http://www.voip-sol.com/15-apps-for-recording-skype-conversations/">15 Apps for Recording Skype</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="531"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="148">3. <a href="http://videoconferencing.wikispaces.com/Recording+Skype">Using PowerGramo</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="148"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="149"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>Wikis with Skype resources</strong></span></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="149"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="517">1. <a href="http://technology4kids.pbworks.com/w/page/25344912/Skype">Technology 4 Kids Wiki:</a> Skype Resources</div><div closure_uid_psidq7="518"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="518"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="134">2. Skype in School Wiki:</div></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="519"><a href="http://pdsblogs.org/mattscully/2009/05/06/skype-and-tell/">http://pdsblogs.org/mattscully/2009/05/06/skype-and-tell/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="523"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="523">3. <a href="http://wsfcs.pbworks.com/Skype-in-Schools">http://wsfcs.pbworks.com/Skype-in-Schools</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="523"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="524">4. <a href="http://videoconferencing.wikispaces.com/Home">http://videoconferencing.wikispaces.com/Home</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="150"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="151"><strong closure_uid_psidq7="185"><span closure_uid_psidq7="187" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So then, why should you Skype?</span></strong></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="151"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="186"><a href="http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/01/02/reasons-for-skyping-in-the-classroom/">http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/01/02/reasons-for-skyping-in-the-classroom/</a></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="186"><br /></div><div closure_uid_psidq7="186"><div closure_uid_2zi1i7="135">Why not give it a go? Please comment and tell us of your Skype experiences. We would really love to know about them!</div></div></div>

Skype When did you last use Skype in your classroom?

Skype is a programme that can connect teachers and pupils all over the globe FOR FREE – yet many schools are unaware of its amazing potentia...

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BOSNIA, CURSED BY EUROPEAN UNION (EU) TECHNOCRATS

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6WjC1Uw5goTm_coKe2WkhRX-lGyXX2olAx-wyGycZTBpMQ6oHq_C-tvgoVwarM6rqxGKcnvJnnvJG0M8aKrT2lXewUY_FI7AwbQ_ZNXg57R-dxeHANrsshkOp0nev3bDiDM8OAezLCGq/s1600/ICG_report_thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6WjC1Uw5goTm_coKe2WkhRX-lGyXX2olAx-wyGycZTBpMQ6oHq_C-tvgoVwarM6rqxGKcnvJnnvJG0M8aKrT2lXewUY_FI7AwbQ_ZNXg57R-dxeHANrsshkOp0nev3bDiDM8OAezLCGq/s1600/ICG_report_thumb.jpg" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Indifference of the EU and the West on Bosnia’s political stalemate could backfire</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4VgPI_g-2Co?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">A fellow political analyst working for the EU in BOSNIA once mentioned the frustration he encounters when briefing EU representatives in BRUSSELS on BOSNIAN issues. It appears that these mostly young highly educated technocrats, running the show in BRUSSELS, lack practical and on the field as well as life experience when it comes to complex geo political decision making in the BALKANS.</span><span style="font-size: large;">  </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Underestimating the ethnic rift</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">  </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of the most pressing issues that analysts are trying to point out to the EU and the WEST is that if they don’t offer more decisive support to solve the political stalemate in BOSNIA, BOSNIAKS (Bosnian Muslims) will turn their back on the West and turn towards other Muslim counties for support, thus inviting radical Muslim elements to establish their pillars in BOSNIA and at the doorstep to EUROPE. The SAUDI ARABIAN WAHHABI movement in BOSNIA up to now has played a minor role, despite efforts by politicians to portray them as a serious threat, nevertheless they are present and do have followers. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Potential power of youth movements in the Balkans </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">As mentioned in my previous article on BOSNIA dated the 21 July 2011 the older generations of BOSNIAKS are still strongly connected to EUROPE. This does not apply to the young generation who represents a large portion of the BOSNIAN population and who are rather well organized through social networks and student organizations and who share more radical views on the current game the EU and the West plays with BOSNIA. As one BOSNIAK student union leader pointed out bluntly, if the EU does not want us we have TURKEY and other fellow Muslim countries in ASIA to turn to, which are economically better off then EUROPE anyway. Why bother joining the EU or bother to live in harmony with Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats, who tend to favor secession anyway.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The minute the economic situation in BOSNIA deteriorates and the BOSNIAN DIASPORA ceases, the political landscape of BOSNIA will tilt towards more instability and provide fundamentalist movements such as the HOUSE OF SAUD WAHHABI movement the opportunity to gain more influence and power in the region. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unlike EUROPE, BOSNIA consists of a large population of educated youth with lack of perspectives (the latter also applying for the youth of EUROPE), thus creating a dangerous vacuum in the region which should not be underestimated, especially in times when young people increasingly</span><span style="font-size: large;">  voicing their anger on the street around the world. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Dayton Peace Agreement Ghost</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">There exists common consent among the 3 ethnic groups of BOSNIA that the DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Agreement">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Agreement</a>) is obsolete and that the country’s constitution has to be changed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Threats by the RS (REPUBLICA SRBSKA ) (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republica_Srpska">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republica_Srpska</a>) to separate have been put on hold for now, but in recent past Bosnian Croats also voiced their opinion and called for a 3^rd entity, a move that would definitely complicate the situation in BIH. Some Bosnians suggest forming 3 or 4 cantons with each canton being governed by the respective ethnic entity, thus eliminating the current expensive and politically flawed 10 cantonal system of Bosnia.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Questionable Role of the Office of the High Representative </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">One would think that the OHR (Office of the High Representative) (see <a href="http://www.ohr.int/">http://www.ohr.int/</a>), the EUROPEAN UNION and the WEST would try to intervene more decisively in current secession tendencies in BOSNIA. Instead, as </span><span style="font-size: large;">WILLIAM STUEBNER, an American Diplomat who held several diplomatic posts in BOSNIA during and after the 1992 to 1995 war, points out in an article published in the CYPRUS MAIL, the EU in most likelihood would not step in strongly, should the 2, respectively 3 (Croats) entities really split. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">(see</span><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cmsearch?keyword=West%27s%20indifference%20could%20condemn%20Bosnia%20anew">http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cmsearch?keyword=West%27s%20indifference%20could%20condemn%20Bosnia%20anew</a>)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">The indifference displayed by the EU and the West plays in the hands of TURKEY who already has grabbed the key player position in BOSNIA and is willing to go a step further in order to become a key player in the entire region. TURKEY’S position in the BALKANS on the other hand strengthens SAUDI ARABIA’S WAHHABI expansionism in the region, by spreading the Islamic faith. (See TURKISH and SAUDI ARABIA’S common interests at <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MH23Ak02.html">http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MH23Ak02.html</a>, </span><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2011/08/20/163186.html">http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2011/08/20/163186.html</a> )</span><span style="font-size: large;">  All in front of the gateway to Europe and with EUROPE playing the indifferent!!!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Where Occident meets Orient </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unlike EUROPE, TURKEY the USA and its ally SAUDI ARABIA are following another agenda in the Balkans, one that the EU seems to neglect, namely that of vast amount of natural resources in the region.</span><span style="font-size: large;">   </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">BOSNIA and KOSOVO, both hold huge and almost unexploited reserves of coal, lead, zinc, lignite, bauxite and nickel. Rumors of uranium reserves in Kosovo persist, with some arguing that these reserves are located where coincidentally the USA erected the largest US Army base outside the USA, Camp BONDSTEEL.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Without strong guidance from EUROPE the BALKAN is a ticking time bomb. Unfortunately the EU “technocrats” seem not to understand the significance the BALKAN plays in the geopolitical landscape as well as in the “ war of faiths”, where OCCIDENT meets ORIENT.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"></div>

BOSNIA, CURSED BY EUROPEAN UNION (EU) TECHNOCRATS

Indifference of the EU and the West on Bosnia’s political stalemate could backfire A fellow political analyst working for the EU in BOSNIA ...

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Official Weigh In & Week 2 Challenge Updates

This morning I weighed in at 255.8!  That means I officially met my <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/p/goals.html">first goal</a>!  I'm down a total of 8 lbs and today I picked up the <a href="http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/2EC398vHy15QEeuA2gp2AqlCpANwFMYL">Wii Just Dance 2 video game</a>.  I'm excited to include this into my weekly workout routine. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><br /> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hkofferhouse.com/images/cover/other/Just%20Dance%202%20-%20U.S%20Ver%20%28Wii%29%20cover%20front%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.hkofferhouse.com/images/cover/other/Just%20Dance%202%20-%20U.S%20Ver%20%28Wii%29%20cover%20front%201.jpg" width="220" /></a></td></tr><br /> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hkofferhouse.com/items/wii/o0109-detail.htm">Source</a>.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr><br /> </tbody></table>I really hope that the weight is coming off <i>mainly </i>because of the consistent weight training I've been doing over the last 2 weeks now, and not due to <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/08/so-there-was-earthquake-today.html">this past week's events</a>.  <br /><br />Either way, a loss is a loss! :)<br /><br /><a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/08/starting-weekend-off-right.html">To continue on with the Beck challenge</a> from Priorfatgirl, here are some additional things I've been working on:<br /><br /><ol><li><b>Find a diet coach.</b>  This person will be our motivator and personal cheerleader during our weight loss journey.  They could be a therapist, spouse, family member, friend, anyone... just as long as you have someone to stay accountable to.  My diet coach is <a href="http://60lessat40.blogspot.com/">Leslie</a> - thank you again for volunteering to be my d.c.! :)</li><br /> <li><b>Arrange your environment.</b>  This includes ideas such as start eating your meals on smaller size plates to cleaning out your cabinets and pitching all junk food and trigger foods.  Be sure to make it known to people that you are on a healthiness journey so that hopefully they don't sabotage you in some way, and also try some creative problem solving - such as not allowing any candy in the house what so ever.  I've used the plate trick for years and I love it.  </li><br /> <li><b>Create time and energy.</b>  Make a schedule for yourself.  Schedule in time for yourself to get healthy, whether that means putting exercise on  your calendar or allotting time to meal plan or whatever it is you need to do to stay on track with your weight loss journey.  In other words, figure out your priorities and schedule those first, then put all the extraneous stuff in where it fits (<i>if </i>it fits!).  When I sat down to make my workweek schedule and weekend schedule, a feeling of relief came over me.  Finally, I can see in black/white what I should be doing and when.  I can see that I have plenty of time to get everything done that I want to achieve each day.  Having it written down really helped me organize my thoughts and relieved some stress to be honest.  Try it!</li><br /> <li><b>Select an exercise plan.</b>  MWF for me is the NROLW.  Tuesday is a gym visit.  Thursday is a Wii active game.  If I decide to go to the gym on Saturday as a bonus, I will.  Sunday's are always meant to be a day of rest :).</li><br /> <li><b>Set a realistic goal.</b>  Beck doesn't want us focusing on anything more than 5 lbs goals.  <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/p/goals.html">My goals page</a> has been updated to reflect my rewards for each goal.  I think this is a great idea, because originally I had been focusing on 10 lbs losses, and as you can see on the left, my weight loss hasn't exactly been moving along so drastically.  The 5 lbs goals seem much more attainable to me.</li><br /> <li><b>Differentiate between Hunger, Desire and Cravings.</b>  For one full day, keep track of how you feel before, during and after a meal.  On a scale of 0 - 10, where 0 is not hungry at all, and 10 is you're the hungriest you've ever been, rate yourself for one day.  I plan to try this out tomorrow.  This is by far the thing I struggle with the most - I often eat out of boredom!</li><br /> </ol>The <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20Rules%20of%20Lifting%20for%20Women">NROLW</a> is going great guys!  I haven't missed a workout yet and Joel is still participating as well.  In just the 2 short weeks I've been doing this, I've already seen true growth in my strength - in some cases I've already moved from 5 lbs weights to 15 lbs weights.   I'm definitely proud.  Soon, we'll be able to move back into the gym to start doing these workouts.<br /><br />I hope you all have a great and relaxing weekend!  To those of you on the east coast, I hope you and your families are able to stay safe during <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl">Irene</a>!<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><br /> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/581574main_image_2043_946-710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/581574main_image_2043_946-710.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><br /> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2043.html">Source</a>. I've heard Irene is the width of Maryland to St Louis, MO!</td></tr><br /> </tbody></table><br />

Loss New Rules of Lifting for Women Success The Beck Diet Solution Weight Loss Weight Watchers Official Weigh In & Week 2 Challenge Updates

This morning I weighed in at 255.8!  That means I officially met my first goal !  I'm down a total of 8 lbs and today I picked up the Wi...

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It's almost noon and I have done....nothing

It's kind of killing me that I have all this free time, but because of my broken wrist and this cast, I can't do anything too physical or active.<br /><br />It's almost noon and all I've done is have a healthy breakfast. It takes forever to prepare because I've added lots of vegetables my meals these days. Although I'm not doing Weight Watchers anymore (BodyMedia and counting calories instead), I still trying to get in 5-7 fruits/veggies a day and my healthy oil.<br /><br />As with many things in my life, I think I may be addicted to Netflix streaming video. We've had Netflix forever but I've never watched much of the instant stuff. Of all the things on there to watch I chose probably the dumbest series ever made, but I love it.<br /><br />I'd never heard of the ABC show, <a href="http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/make-it-break-it">Make It or Break It</a>. You probably never have either because it's geared towards teenage girls with an interest in gymnastics, with a touch of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/">Mean Girls</a>. Obviously, I'm none of those things, so it's really puzzling to even me why I like this show so much.<br /><br />On the agenda for today:<br /><br />1. Go for a walk at <a href="http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/waterandland/puget-sound-marine/beaches/dash.aspx">Dash Point Park</a>, about a 10-minute drive. I can't stand to do my usual trail or neighborhood walk today. It's boring me to death.<br /><br />2. See a matinee showing of The Help.<br /><br />3. Pick a few blackberries to have for an evening snack.<br /><br />4. Buy the ingredients for homemade hummus (Angela's <a href="http://ohsheglows.com/2010/12/04/the-hummus-that-changed-everything/">recipe</a>, but make it tomorrow).<br /><br />5. Stop at the neighborhood produce store for some more white peaches. Almost twice the calories of a regular peach, but twice the flavor.<br /><br />Another exciting and fun-packed day.

It's almost noon and I have done....nothing

It's kind of killing me that I have all this free time, but because of my broken wrist and this cast, I can't do anything too physic...

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Time to get serious!

<p>TGIF friends!!</p> <p>I know what you’re thinking “Darci we haven’t heard from you in 22 days, this sporadic blogging needs to stop.” I couldn’t agree with you more! <img alt="Winking smile" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-winkingsmile" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0huDtz5v3UCpXSGnHboTwlMrVOveExZrVik94_FMTeTtn4MQaWuglWk4kCIrfmkke8esTZquZQ4Xk5GNGtoDdyASh1bmNPzG1XKbButRRC-2pK27tYA53B2fjrRmE__W7wz7NNAi65ys/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none"> I’m not one to make excuses…well ok maybe once in a while! So here’s my “reasons” for being MIA! </p> <ol> <li>Our computer doesn’t work. Obviously that makes it hard to blog! (we have a loaner right now, for a few days)</li> <li>And I’ve been soaking up all the time I can with my sweet baby girl! My maternity leave is quickly coming to an end. <img alt="Sad smile" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-sadsmile" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZH7_TcROJkRIvTaVptByyppUuRUZYK_LQl-xFu60NUl4YiXhfz9rqhtPny4bjeH3SndeG4IChOpw1oQ81rD3wTXWM32mNpQYXIm8Po1oXpvSAINN0e7bmwt_KaHCjyaJsujdHrGrskIqQ/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none"></li></ol> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSbZXGBu13wLs9_3GJpdk8C5QZ892oyioyc4_UTSqW-DcynbRlIlgdBJGfZQ-4O1GX0UbXrHNhh8Y6TTLdAHLRNP_-5NzLWVIUSXPcWs6C_hXHZzMU83D715m86eK7qdNBxw8VaW30SxVN/s1600-h/JD09286edited-2-M%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img alt="JD09286edited-2-M" border="0" height="523" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhn__JYyLQAt-l4D3nYBsCbUZueJi7o13wdI32YGKs8ZhDiVmIEBNa55Z-UG1IiE3GYH8iWmFzgCWhWEHq3k3NSudzuA6UglxlOyz9uHiBgIWMD68BmcUY9VXRQanL4kFU5XJsFilbcW13/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="JD09286edited-2-M" width="360"></a></p> <p>Those are pretty legit…right?!?! I’d say at least the 2nd one! To think I only have a week and half of maternity leave just makes me so sad.</p> <p>Ok…back to the reason for my post! Anyone see my <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/darcibangert">tweet</a> this morning?</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9nIuMgFMZ1Afnz3JIy7dkcMtfGPjmz-nDGKVirEwvBXs71JnghWi9HfrPqX4lcROxBfRw5gwS5NyBOiZx8trMpyfUXbtOgYi-Iss2DLZ7DJco3D5eKDBOlF7AKh7ZeMvShfe5hMCoZ5Y/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXbUJ2zw-zrYfYV_57RjxF_L329UyD_9wCNPgBbNTpoOHAJq5Ift7Y-I_YO0hxz6RFdkEnW1JlCQ0BF7Oq6pG9ELACiTeU8rDqguJRQfL04tpR8K8AWggEuLb364e6CiDqKnHLKe-f3D3B/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" width="404"></a></p> <p>In preparation for going back to work I raided my closet to see what fit for work attire. (Honestly I was hoping nothing would fit and I just wouldn’t have to go to work. Ha!) j/k Out of 22 pairs of dress pants and 7 pairs of jeans, only 5 fit. (I know that is a lot of pants, but it is a mix of 2 sizes and I LOVE to shop! <img alt="Winking smile" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-winkingsmile" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0huDtz5v3UCpXSGnHboTwlMrVOveExZrVik94_FMTeTtn4MQaWuglWk4kCIrfmkke8esTZquZQ4Xk5GNGtoDdyASh1bmNPzG1XKbButRRC-2pK27tYA53B2fjrRmE__W7wz7NNAi65ys/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none">)</p> <p>At first I was really depressed, but gotta look on the bright side. At least I have a pair for each day! For real though, it was hard trying on pair after pair and having little luck.  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZU0jYt8UCLpaYund-7xJvkuIWfQ28KuCE0qJ2puNgqziTrhfMkOzIBS10515iTR9AqQlgV_oTfZRXYu3BUarnH3OKiGfUAyhvDtKsMrg_uFMgOvKtMg5t1H0IQsxRTbUAyYtxMue5lLfZ/s1600-h/DSC00667%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img alt="DSC00667" border="0" height="501" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKy9diJ8BTCJSiHTJqHDQpDD3CzCFC6lQ1jVuYyIWokyHj_0SnyFkIYNtzqdITOiN_XwNtm-tcxEQ14ybSek7GlxU84jlhFnPH6s2gmtrHQGlBZY0N_N0vYmDOfaiorGc1qUg9C6QIZn7/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="DSC00667" width="332"></a></p> <p>Another thing I’m trying to keep in mind is that it took me 9 months to put on these pounds. They aren’t going to come off overnight. I’ve read it can take anywhere from  6 months to a year to lose your baby weight. </p> <p>But it was a good swift quick in the rear to get me serious again. When I <a href="http://weightloss-stories.blogspot.com/2011/08/post-baby-update.html">posted on August 4th</a> I talked about starting to workout and eating well. I have worked out…not consistently though. To date I have completed the first 2 weeks of C25K. If you do the math you will see it took me 3 weeks to do that. <strong>It’s time to get serious!</strong></p> <p>As far as eating, I’m doing fairly well about getting fruits and vegetables. But…I’m also pretty good about eating ice cream & other empty calories! <strong>It’s time to get serious!</strong></p> <p>So here is my clear cut plan:</p> <ul> <li>Workout 5 days/week – 3 days of C25K & 2 days of other options such as workout DVDs, weights, cardio, etc</li> <li>Track eats & eliminate empty calorie sweets </li></ul> <p>Two tasks, seems easy enough! <img alt="Winking smile" class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-winkingsmile" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0huDtz5v3UCpXSGnHboTwlMrVOveExZrVik94_FMTeTtn4MQaWuglWk4kCIrfmkke8esTZquZQ4Xk5GNGtoDdyASh1bmNPzG1XKbButRRC-2pK27tYA53B2fjrRmE__W7wz7NNAi65ys/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none"> If only it were! But I’m ready for the challenge. <strong>It’s time to get serious!!</strong></p> <p>No better time to start than this morning! For breakfast I made an egg burrito with 2 eggs, salsa, 2% shredded cheddar, and a ww tortilla! Paired with a banana it’s a nutritious breakfast!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2f5lyzfpL0iDhUjZxYLhV_yjTbziNEr4b536IxcXvzzr9fH9JZx6MFmESHdlApsZLUMGAPX0pDgd0umhy88E3ZskZu5br76j6NeP2U6AJReXYUo5U51CXvn8zUPuMKU_8S0D5zEHTrhE/s1600-h/DSC00666%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img alt="DSC00666" border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrWCWu5piNyFe6OSU4OSVeFOnpbyl6SqKKaPJSM43VS4kIv7SP-StZppfAwbnuxKXZK_BqlX-VdHnMLzzMv7Jo_mspp31Bke9vxVEeO9MZMMwROdWOS31UY0S9GoAkJu_sTmuIpzWmgOIl/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="DSC00666" width="404"></a></p> <p>So my friends I’m asking you to keep me accountable! I’ve buckled down and lost weight in the past, I can do it again! <strong>It’s time to get serious!</strong></p> <p>PS If you are wanting more baby updates, hop on over to our <a href="http://bangertfam.blogspot.com/">family blog</a> to see the latest of Adelyn! <a href="http://bangertfam.blogspot.com/2011/08/adelyns-two-months-old.html">Sunday she turned 2 months</a>! Hard to believe!</p>

Time to get serious!

TGIF friends!! I know what you’re thinking “Darci we haven’t heard from you in 22 days, this sporadic blogging needs to stop.” I couldn’t a...

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A time to heal

Even though I'm pretty sure I'm a borderline hoarder, perhaps even a full-blown one when it comes to closets, I decided the closet cleaning can wait until my wrist has healed. It was a stupid idea.<br /><br />I didn't use my left hand the last two days while moving stuff, yet my left wrist was aching terribly by this afternoon. It has me concerned.<br /><br />Before I decided to stop the madness, I managed to drag two big bags of clothes, ten purses (why do I keep things I don't like?), and even a belly dancing kit (a Xmas gift, the box not even opened), among many other treasures.<br /><br />I shoved the rest of my <strike>junk</strike> valuables back into the closet. I'm done for now.<br /><br />Back to just my walks and moderate one-armed gym workouts. This is not the time for me to do  chores...it's a time to heal.<br /><br />Weight this morning was 183.4.<br /><br /><br />

A time to heal

Even though I'm pretty sure I'm a borderline hoarder, perhaps even a full-blown one when it comes to closets, I decided the closet c...

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The IMF on trial

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="266" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3hBYAcPPYQM?feature=player_embedded" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="320"></iframe></div><br />

The IMF on trial

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Father and Mother Were Movie Stars: Leatrice Gilbert Fountain Remembers

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSGSA81MlOJy4z6AOeD9MJ7kpnXZOeeegTbRCLjJM0Z3KEXAYTyz1LxRqfoIkxPnrQVEJM5lyNxKdOiOH2pK-HtKdE_PF7ZjNN5P5g11erTKqBrCmihKjZISNSngKoxHTmN6oHkapyD_m/s1600/hollywood+postcard+cathay+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSGSA81MlOJy4z6AOeD9MJ7kpnXZOeeegTbRCLjJM0Z3KEXAYTyz1LxRqfoIkxPnrQVEJM5lyNxKdOiOH2pK-HtKdE_PF7ZjNN5P5g11erTKqBrCmihKjZISNSngKoxHTmN6oHkapyD_m/s1600/hollywood+postcard+cathay+2.jpg" /></a></div><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Just over a year ago, as Turner Classic Movies prepared to honor silent screen legend John Gilbert with a day of his own for the first time during “Summer under the Stars” 2010, I interviewed Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, daughter of the actor and his second wife, silent screen star Leatrice Joy. Leatrice Fountain and I had become acquainted several months earlier and it seemed a perfect idea to publish a discussion of her father’s career on the same day TCM fêted him. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Leatrice and I have stayed in touch ever since, and over this 4^th of July weekend we spent more time talking about her memories…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Leatrice’s story has its origins in 1918, when John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy met on a Peralta Studio picture called <i>One Dollar Bid</i>. He was kind to the nervous actress who hadn’t worked for a while and was preparing for a scene. He was also taken with her - and she thought he was the most attractive man she’d ever seen.  Their romance began when they met by chance months later.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNUpF3G065fWD6Mb2mIsHVJmUIhaHA7kKx9z4HaS7q6Lf4dlYn8y6kGYESJGSDDSDU4xCIsXcvWo2EOAC76HyiFWY5O9Jy6I43mrzKi3fOUKjhwOYzpyYHBJNokTGRHkpyEfrLG_0j5wj/s1600/leatrice+joy+3+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNUpF3G065fWD6Mb2mIsHVJmUIhaHA7kKx9z4HaS7q6Lf4dlYn8y6kGYESJGSDDSDU4xCIsXcvWo2EOAC76HyiFWY5O9Jy6I43mrzKi3fOUKjhwOYzpyYHBJNokTGRHkpyEfrLG_0j5wj/s1600/leatrice+joy+3+b.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leatrice Joy</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">From their early days together and throughout their marriage, Joy had the bigger career and salary. In 1922, the year she married Gilbert, she signed with Paramount to be groomed for stardom by Cecil B. DeMille. She had been working for Goldwyn and when that contract ended, her brother Billy, then her agent, got in touch with DeMille knowing C.B. had lost his great star Gloria Swanson and was looking for a replacement. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">John Gilbert was on his way up, but during his time with Joy he hadn’t yet made the films that firmly established his stardom. The couple’s relationship was always tempestuous, and they were apart as often as they were together. For his part, DeMille would have liked the pair to part permanently. Their daughter recounted this story: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">“Father had drinking problems, the two would quarrel, and sometimes mother would show up at the studio looking sleepless and unhappy. DeMille finally told her that she must move out of her home until the picture was finished and stay with her mother who lived nearby. This of course infuriated Jack and they fought bitterly. A few days later she was driving on Hollywood Blvd. and saw him ahead of her. He stopped, parked, and walked into a barber shop. She parked behind him, walked into the shop and got into the chair next to his. Neither spoke. When the barber asked her what she wanted she said, I want a haircut just like his (in those days women did not enter the sacred masculine environs of the barber's). It did not cross her mind that this might interfere with the film she was shooting with her long flowing curls. Poor DeMille...” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Some have called Joy a forerunner to Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell because her leading roles were often as emancipated women (and she became famed for her boyish, close-cropped haircut). She was one of Paramount’s top stars and the best known of her films is DeMille’s first version of <i>The Ten Commandments</i> (1923) in which she had one of the featured roles.</span><br /><br /><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Young Leatrice was born in September, 1924, just as her parents were divorcing. Her uncle Billy tried hard to keep Gilbert away from mother and daughter, and her father played virtually no part in the girl’s life for many years; she remembers that she called Billy Joy “Uncle Daddy.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAwVE4tLhPGOo_LCyN3mceoooktoR3lGz2dQ45Dv0ICfi4YqvjJing4qV8qV_Ej_m4vi3LfXocZoEBgwMKKFTXNfxKIyuaF_gYSr7DH8ahuE3Zz42aC-YZsOzTLwNmA_z47zazTLpGJul/s1600/john+gilbert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAwVE4tLhPGOo_LCyN3mceoooktoR3lGz2dQ45Dv0ICfi4YqvjJing4qV8qV_Ej_m4vi3LfXocZoEBgwMKKFTXNfxKIyuaF_gYSr7DH8ahuE3Zz42aC-YZsOzTLwNmA_z47zazTLpGJul/s320/john+gilbert.jpg" width="289" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Gilbert</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Baby Leatrice arrived as John Gilbert’s career was about to skyrocket. He had co-starred in the newly formed MGM’s first production, <i>He Who Gets Slapped</i> (1924), with Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer. But it was in 1925, the year his divorce from Joy was finalized, that Gilbert achieved the heights. He starred in MGM’s production of Erich von Stroheim’s opulent <i>The Merry Widow </i>and also starred in the film that established MGM’s reputation, King Vidor’s smash hit <i>The Big Parade</i>. Just over a year later, not long after the demise of Rudolph Valentino, Gilbert and Greta Garbo co-starred for the first time - in Clarence Brown’s sensual <i>Flesh and the Devil </i>(1926), a runaway success. John Gilbert was now Hollywood’s top romantic lead, adored by millions and in the midst of a great romance with Garbo.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8CbEVrm3NmxPIkSpbcxWvOLACvTcngqkni8n0MGv8a7h4QLiwrvpeaon34BI7KSKNjzEHuzEnhZB8F4Z8GCCW5XA2mWgtE5pR5jIAgEkV9O_-jRasGs5zB3vkw6OSo453F65bPYVchAL/s1600/Cecil-Demille.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP8CbEVrm3NmxPIkSpbcxWvOLACvTcngqkni8n0MGv8a7h4QLiwrvpeaon34BI7KSKNjzEHuzEnhZB8F4Z8GCCW5XA2mWgtE5pR5jIAgEkV9O_-jRasGs5zB3vkw6OSo453F65bPYVchAL/s320/Cecil-Demille.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cecil B. DeMille</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">At just that time, Leatrice Joy’s career began its decline. In 1925, DeMille departed Paramount, Hollywood’s reigning studio, to create his own production company. When he left, his agreement with Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky allowed him to take his stars with him - if they were agreeable. Joy was one of those he took. According to Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, this was at a critical stage of her mother’s career, “she hadn’t yet reached ‘name above the title’ status, but she was being built up.” Joy didn’t want to leave the studio, DeMille’s new company hadn’t yet worked out a distribution deal, and she had been happy at Paramount but, she said later, she was under the impression Zukor and Lasky didn’t want her because they agreed to let DeMille have her. When she realized this wasn’t true, she reacted, according to her daughter, “childishly.” She begged DeMille to release her, but he refused. After that she would not speak to him, “even when they were walking together.”  Joy’s success was modest with the DeMille company; she was assigned to program pictures and DeMille never directed her again. Her daughter mused, “She was a subtle actress who deserved more.”</span><br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OHIWIBjoSt8" width="420"></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Leatrice Joy on "To Tell the Truth"</span></span></i> </span></div><br /><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">At one point, Joy was off the screen entirely for about 18 months. During that time she toured the country on the vaudeville circuit, performing scenes and singing with an accompanist (her daughter recalled that she was awarded a gold medal as the most popular entertainer on the tour). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Joy’s partnership with DeMille ended unhappily in 1928 and he reportedly held a grudge for years. She signed with MGM and made the last of her silent films for that studio.  The coming of sound effectively ended the film careers of both Leatrice Joy and John Gilbert. Her strong southern accent was considered a detriment, and his voice was called unsuitable.  Joy freelanced for a couple of years for lesser studios and then left movies for nearly a decade. Meanwhile, John Gilbert struggled to revive his waning career until he died suddenly in 1936.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMnXiHGnySOjoDw8yF-qAZGvTdVOsA0XZTDX2Oiid-346fUWhfIFMH4r4d1S1PULjojs-ODFDQztB-l_T6OZW0Bujp6xra5sh0Qz7y0ilNVSnC3ymF27b4kSiBe6JOClHh9_qJpwsJswBz/s1600/MM+62+JFK+bday+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMnXiHGnySOjoDw8yF-qAZGvTdVOsA0XZTDX2Oiid-346fUWhfIFMH4r4d1S1PULjojs-ODFDQztB-l_T6OZW0Bujp6xra5sh0Qz7y0ilNVSnC3ymF27b4kSiBe6JOClHh9_qJpwsJswBz/s200/MM+62+JFK+bday+3.jpg" width="176" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marilyn Monroe</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Joy’s final film was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love Nest</i> (1951), one of Marilyn Monroe’s early films. She told her daughter that Monroe had an effect similar to Jean Harlow’s. She wasn’t talking about her onscreen persona so much as her stunning impact on men - who stopped in their tracks and stared the moment they caught sight of her.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Leatrice Gilbert Fountain remembers Jean Harlow. Her family was linked to the ‘platinum blonde’ on both sides. Members of her mother's family were Christian Scientists, as was Harlow, “…my family was very fond of her. My grandmother was Jean's</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;"> Christian Science Practitioner (like a healer). She was a really lovely person who always paid attention to a scruffy little girl hanging around [Leatrice].” She remembers the young actress as “a warm, friendly, easy-going girl. She didn’t push herself, others pushed her.” Leatrice’s ‘Uncle Daddy,’ Billy Joy, was Harlow’s first agent and arranged for her initial screen test – for which she wore a dress lent to her by Leatrice Joy. At that time Harlow was under contract to Howard Hughes, an agreement she discussed at length with the more experienced Joy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3G5FZvSFXCDOigH3iXe5OGoN7no1fWRLniMZ_jsAZrw97VHE06U9o4zd5Nz2aMVZVJ4TvqsdiPWagnv0JkYymsf_ezayQOcIaBAvZ9e6mJDADdOl4-Pu7u8mDdF2I9fo2N2A8c4jn-3wV/s1600/harlow+wedding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3G5FZvSFXCDOigH3iXe5OGoN7no1fWRLniMZ_jsAZrw97VHE06U9o4zd5Nz2aMVZVJ4TvqsdiPWagnv0JkYymsf_ezayQOcIaBAvZ9e6mJDADdOl4-Pu7u8mDdF2I9fo2N2A8c4jn-3wV/s1600/harlow+wedding.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Gilbert (right) at Jean Harlow's wedding</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">On the other side of the family, John Gilbert was the best man at Harlow’s wedding to her second husband, Paul Bern, in 1932. Bern was a writer, director and producer at MGM, and a close friend of Irving Thalberg. Bern had at once shared a bachelor pad with John Gilbert and Carey Wilson, an MGM screenwriter Oscar-nominated for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mutiny on the Bounty </i>(1935). Leatrice chuckled as she recalled that many years later silent screen star Colleen Moore referred to the place, a house above Sunset Blvd., as “a circus” for all that went on there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_wYjNGfahUFQmBfgXEJQnMK5cduTTwJ5InFY5N5ijnUdSFvbODN1CF1EgjGPvvXRoqSH2yipZqOIYnn8RusRtAaN58ivWG1rMxQlRzSeKONWqaqsCy9tGoB7Dpwqk4_yHh2tyOHG5VT6/s1600/of+human+hearts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc_wYjNGfahUFQmBfgXEJQnMK5cduTTwJ5InFY5N5ijnUdSFvbODN1CF1EgjGPvvXRoqSH2yipZqOIYnn8RusRtAaN58ivWG1rMxQlRzSeKONWqaqsCy9tGoB7Dpwqk4_yHh2tyOHG5VT6/s320/of+human+hearts.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leatrice Gilbert's first film</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Leatrice remembers getting to know the children of other stars, Harold Lloyd’s daughters went to school with her at the Westlake School for Girls; she knew Maria Riva, Marlene Dietrich’s daughter, also born in 1924. Riva, who had a brief career as an actress and appeared on TV in the early ‘50s, seemed to Leatrice a “quiet, withdrawn child” very unlike her illustrious mother.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Leatrice also got to know child actors like Freddie Bartholomew and Judy Garland once she made her own foray into ‘the family business.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">At 12, she portrayed Ann Rutherford (‘Annie Hawks’) as a child in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Of Human Hearts</i> (1938), starring Walter Huston, James Stewart and Beulah Bondi (Oscar-nominated for her supporting performance). Around the same time she made a screen test for Hunt Stromberg and was cast as the lead in MGM’s upcoming production of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">National Velvet</i>. The test, she told me, was a scene set the day before the Grand National, in which Velvet and Mi have a talk. Stromberg was planning to shoot the picture in England, but the advent of World War II in Europe and other issues at MGM put the picture on hold for years…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDHsDu1ge7T3CpjOaY4aNGZ4LCI5-QV-JxSp0fDWtDZvu_Trcc27llFq7_u2FEIfWGT5UMS0nydkzxc9Luara4bDoJG9VU3Eukm8jQrUhzFD_GGFLcsC70nTX3u9GmW4YDuJg1T0g-zN9/s1600/Ava+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDHsDu1ge7T3CpjOaY4aNGZ4LCI5-QV-JxSp0fDWtDZvu_Trcc27llFq7_u2FEIfWGT5UMS0nydkzxc9Luara4bDoJG9VU3Eukm8jQrUhzFD_GGFLcsC70nTX3u9GmW4YDuJg1T0g-zN9/s200/Ava+2.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ava Gardner</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">As an MGM contract player in the early ‘40s, Leatrice appeared in several films, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Random Harvest</i> (1942), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Guy Named Joe </i>(1943), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kismet</i> (1944) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo </i>(1944). During this time she knew all the other young hopefuls on the MGM lot, liked many and became friends with some, including future star Ava Gardner. She recalls of Ava that she was “beautiful, down-to-earth and warm when so many were distant and aloof…she was so personable.”  Leatrice thought back to an evening when she, Ava and another friend went out on the town to one of Old Hollywood’s great night spots, the Mocambo. She remembered that all eyes in the room followed Ava...and Ava took it in stride, paying little attention to her devastating effect on others.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">In 1944 Leatrice joined the war effort by becoming a WAC. She was a clerk-typist for just a year when the war ended.  Out of the Army, she went to New York and for two years attended the school of Tamara Daykarhanova, formerly of the Moscow Art Theatre, source of “the method” approach to acting. Daykarhanova had been with Maria Oupenskaya’s New York acting school before Ouspenskaya relocated. At the studio Leatrice met her first husband, a fellow student. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMJf26B7eS7xLdVgjRncJVvbdqrsVAeMKuCHVSD7z-wpWrvIrEcGHEqzHIB_W1kMe81mBis0I9LYUHtf3_BefPVUVfd-G1DLRlMZ936XHgGsIVCrENHYpnkVdZy2G_eGSfj9UeUhQxIB4-/s1600/dark+star.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMJf26B7eS7xLdVgjRncJVvbdqrsVAeMKuCHVSD7z-wpWrvIrEcGHEqzHIB_W1kMe81mBis0I9LYUHtf3_BefPVUVfd-G1DLRlMZ936XHgGsIVCrENHYpnkVdZy2G_eGSfj9UeUhQxIB4-/s1600/dark+star.jpg" /></a></div><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">Many years later, Leatrice became interested in the life and career of her father and eventually wrote his definitive biography, <u>Dark Star</u> (St. Martin's Press, 1985). Her exhaustive research on his life put her in touch with many luminaries of Hollywood’s ‘golden age.’  She interviewed the likes of Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Colleen Moore, Lillian Gish, Marlene Dietrich, John Ford, Howard Hawks, King Vidor, Clarence Brown and many others. She came to know and was assisted in her journey to learn more by esteemed film historian/filmmaker Kevin Brownlow (winner of an Oscar in 2010, the Governor’s Award). Along with taking part in silent film festivals world-wide in her continuing effort to restore her father's professional reputation, Leatrice became an oft-quoted source for books and documentaries about Hollywood icons as well as Hollywood itself. In the last few months I’ve come across her comments in biographies of Jean Harlow, Louis B. Mayer and Cecil B. DeMille. Charlotte Chandler’s 2011 <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2011/04/marlene-dietrich-gets-personal-in.html" style="color: #990000;">biography of Marlene Dietrich</a> quotes Leatrice at length so I asked Leatrice about Chandler, the somewhat enigmatic author of several Hollywood bios…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06z7_S57bwJpO5ZYGc-6I_QAHcnjYPT7dJvvGygkydeusblJT2eIVrdllQ1KFU3DFHu3GfJm3utBQLHRfLxfTOuaP9pmw3fjsiUrbOuH7H5xRnmPTByDgDbaj1wjFUojY-ofMVKftXGeV/s1600/Leatrice+Gilbert+Fountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06z7_S57bwJpO5ZYGc-6I_QAHcnjYPT7dJvvGygkydeusblJT2eIVrdllQ1KFU3DFHu3GfJm3utBQLHRfLxfTOuaP9pmw3fjsiUrbOuH7H5xRnmPTByDgDbaj1wjFUojY-ofMVKftXGeV/s200/Leatrice+Gilbert+Fountain.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leatrice Gilbert Fountain</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">“...I knew her and ran into her continually at MOMA in the heyday of the film department (there was nothing like it anywhere except for Langlois in Paris). And she seemed to know everyone. How she has kept herself a mystery is one in itself.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;">I could’ve asked Leatrice to reminisce for days, but her two visiting sons returned from a fishing expedition and it was time for us both to return to the 4^th of July weekend and our daily lives. We agreed to talk again soon…</span><br /><br /><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://classic-film-tv.blogspot.com/2010/08/about-john-gilbertan-interview-with.html" style="color: #990000;">Click here</a><span style="color: #990000;"> </span>to view my original interview with Leatrice. <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2010/10/house-that-jack-built.html" style="color: #990000;">Click here</a> for my piece on the fabled history of her father's house in Hollywood.</i></span> </span><br /><br /></div></div></div>

Ava Gardner Cecil B. DeMille Jean Harlow John Gilbert Leatrice Gilbert Fountain Leatrice Joy TCM The Lady Eve (author) Father and Mother Were Movie Stars: Leatrice Gilbert Fountain Remembers

Just over a year ago, as Turner Classic Movies prepared to honor silent screen legend John Gilbert with a day of his own for the first time ...

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A 5 Pound Loss

<a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/08/lets-say-it-all-together-folks.html">Last week</a> I was frustrated and sad about gaining 2 lbs at the weekly WW meeting, especially after I knew I had a stellar week.<br /><br />This week, I lost 5 lbs! <br /><br />When my leader asked what I did differently this week, I told her:<br /><br /><blockquote> <i>"Well, you may have heard.... we had this earthquake on Tuesday and since then my mind has been so consumed with that that I haven't really been eating much." </i> </blockquote><br />Of course the meeting members laughed, but I really believe that <a href="http://the-big-weight.blogspot.com/2011/08/so-there-was-earthquake-today.html">Tuesday's events</a> certainly contributed to some, if not all, of that loss.  <br /><br />Tomorrow is my official weigh in and I'll be interested to see what the scale has in store for me this week.  <br /><br />To <a href="http://60lessat40.blogspot.com/">Leslie</a>, <a href="http://biggerthanababyelephant.blogspot.com/">Jodie</a>, <a href="http://www.1year100pounds.com/">Ryan</a> and <a href="http://mrshillruns.blogspot.com/">Jessica</a> - thank you all for your encouraging comments from yesterday.  I appreciate you taking the time to leave thoughtful words :).<br /><br />

Loss Success Weight Loss Weight Watchers A 5 Pound Loss

Last week I was frustrated and sad about gaining 2 lbs at the weekly WW meeting, especially after I knew I had a stellar week. This week, I...

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The Ambien Diet

Best thing that happened to me today - I made a ponytail with one hand! With a special ponytail thing I found in a drawer and with the help of gravity. I have a ponytail! It's like a little piece of heaven. Yes, I do lead an exciting life. <br /><br />I should be working on my closet mess, which has now spilled over into the rest of the house. It's like my closet is a bottomless pit of junk. I can't believe the stuff I'm finding. Like 12 pairs of size 12 pants (jeans and dress slacks), so far. I still have piles of clothes to sort through.<br /><br />I haven't comfortably worn size 12 for about a year. Why are they still hanging there if they don't fit? We all know the answer...because I was going to lose the extra weight...soon. I also have lots of size 14 and 16 clothes. In boxes in the garage are the size 8's and 10's from two years ago. I never dreamed I'd outgrow my size 12's, for about the 20th time in my life.<br /><br />I actually don't even know what size I wear right now. I have a "one-hand" rule for pants these days. I have to be able to pull then on with my right hand. No buttons. Which means I'm living in my elastic waist workout pants.  <br /><br />So about this Ambien diet. For the last five or six years, since menopause, I feel like I haven't slept. I can fall asleep easily, I just can't stay asleep. I've practically begged my doctor for Ambien several times, but the most she would ever give me was ten tablets at a time, no refill. She acted like she was prescribing heroin. While I appreciated her conservatism, I just wanted to sleep for an entire night.<br /><br />Hello cast! My doctor accepted it as a logical reason for my sleepless nights and gave me a refillable prescription for Ambien. The difference in my sleep is incredible, although I do feel a little like I'm doing something I shouldn't be doing. Just a little. Ive been warned about Ambien's addictive properties (and I read about it on the internet), but these days, I'll accept a little help in the sleep department.<br /><br />The added benefit is that if I'm sleeping, I'm not eating! A pleasant side effect of sleeping through the night.<br /><br />Although, this morning I remembered a dream where I was eating plums. Then I found a lonely pluot on the counter this morning and a pluot sticker in the sink, I checked the trash. There were two pluot pits right on the top. It wasn't a dream. The really odd thing is that I'd forgotten we even had any pluots. They must have been hidden somewhere in the fridge.<br /><br />Check out these old posts from last year:<br /><br /><b><i>Posted 4-20-2010</i></b><br /><i>The Ambien experience</i><br /><i><br />I've stopped taking Ambien, the prescription sleeping aid. It's dangerous! This morning I woke up and had red stuff all over my hands. It looked liked I'd murdered someone in my sleep.<br /><br />My fingers were literally "beet red". OMG! I ate the roasted beet dip! I headed into the kitchen and found the container in the refrigerator, with only a couple tablespoons of dip remaining. There was about 3/4 cup in the container when I went to bed. This meant I'd eaten almost the entire 3/4 cup of dip. Considering three tablespoons was 4.5 Points, this isn't a good thing.</i><br /><br /><b><i>Posted 4-20-10</i></b><br /><i>My Ambien blackout I had last night where I ate 1/4 of a loaf of Dave's Killer bread but didn't remember a thing (about 500 calories). This morning I wanted to make breakfast and found the empty bread bag. I asked my husband if he ate bread in the middle of the night and why couldn't he have left me just one slice. He said of course he didn't eat bread in the middle of the night (like I was insane). Plus there was a full glass of milk, untouched, on the counter next to the empty bread bag. I don't remember what happened. Scary!</i><br /><i><br /><b>Then this posted after I quit taking Ambien, 5-27-2010</b></i><br /><i>I continue to sleep the sleep of the damned, waking up several times during the night. I've tried all kinds of things, Ambien, Simply Sleep, meditation, quiet time before bed with Sleepytime tea, Melatonin, and sleep techniques I used when I worked a graveyard shift thirty years ago that always worked like a charm. NOTHING is working. Now it's to the point where the more I worry about it, the worse it's getting. I really don't want to go back to the doctor for a sleeping aid, but I'm not sure what else to do at this point. I just know it's kind of killing me. Everything is in shades of gray when I'm exhausted.</i><br /><br /><b><i>Funny thing, this was in the same post, so about a year ago I was size 10:</i></b><br /><br /><i>One bright spot is I have to retire my size 12 slacks. I have several pairs that I bought last fall because I gained twenty pounds when I was doing all that traveling for work. I've almost lost all of it (19), and now my size 10's all fit. This is the first time in many decades that I'll start summer at the weight I was last summer, which is a weight after losing 75 pounds. Usually by now I would have regained all 75 pounds plus an extra 10-20 for good measure. Of course, I still want to lost another 20+ pounds. Will I ever be happy with my weight? Probably not.</i><br /><br />We'll see how this goes, but I don't like the sound of it. How quickly I forgot about the negative aspects of Ambien.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

The Ambien Diet

Best thing that happened to me today - I made a ponytail with one hand! With a special ponytail thing I found in a drawer and with the help ...

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Sweeps are Sweet, but All You Need Are Series

I spend a lot of time nowadays paying attention to the Tigers and Brewers. It's become a fun obsession - "The Cardinals lost <i>again</i>?!" "They <i>both </i>swept this weekend?!" "They made the cover of <i>Sports Illustrated</i>!" Even the guy at work who spends every moment dogging me about my sports teams has been complimentary!<br /><br />I am thrilled when it comes to a sweep, but as the great Jim Leyland stated at the beginning of the season, (to paraphrase) "You can't win every game in a season." And that's still the case. So when the Tigers can take a few games and then drop a couple, I tend not to fret.<br /><br />Sweeps are wonderful, but you can't bet on a team to win them all. All I ask is for them to take 2 out of 3. Or 3 out of 4. Or both of a 2-gamer.<br /><br />I checked. If the Tigers win all the series for the rest of the season, that will be 20 games. They currently are at 70 wins. In a division that looked as lost as the AL Central for the first half of the season, they probably only need to win 90 games to win the division. And bam! They are there!<br /><br />I'm not saying that sweeping a series is unnecessary. If we can clinch the playoffs sooner, it will make me feel better sooner. Plus we can rest a bunch of starters without worrying about a Game 163 or something like that.<br /><br />You may pine for the sweeps. But when they take 2 out of 3 from the White Sox, you are allowed to smile and pump your fist. If Porcello or Scherzer drop a game, (OR, not AND) don't push the panic button. Root to win the series. Because when the playoffs roll around, the same scenario goes: all you have to do is win the Series.

Sweeps are Sweet, but All You Need Are Series

I spend a lot of time nowadays paying attention to the Tigers and Brewers. It's become a fun obsession - "The Cardinals lost again ...

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So Why Should I Be Afraid?

<div style="text-align: center;"><i>"The Lord is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid?  The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?" - Psalm 27:1</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Friends, I'm not over what happened yesterday.  I have to be honest here.  While this natural disaster was mild in comparison to what others have experienced over the years - Katrina, tsunamis, tornadoes - I have to imagine that the same thoughts and fears that people experienced through those events are  similar to what was running through my head yesterday while my office building was shaking.   For most, it seems, it is back to business as usual today.  For me, I don't easily forget things like this.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here is how yesterday's earthquake affected my weight loss journey:</div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Joel and I stopped at McDonald's to get something to eat and drink while we were sitting in traffic.  This might be the first time I've ever entered a McDonald's and the only thing I ordered was a bottle of water.  For those who are following the Beck book, this is me giving myself credit!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2. I pretty much sat in a trance all night long, trying to digest the events from earlier that day.  Hunger finally started rearing it's head around 7 PM.  I didn't want to make anything.  I didn't even want to eat, but I couldn't get past the growling in my stomach.  I made myself a remake of a Chipotle burrito bowl.  It did nothing for me other than take away the hunger.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">3. I had a gym visit planned for yesterday and I could not muster the energy to go.  See #2 - I was busy sitting in a trance people - no time for gym visits!  Not only was I busy staring off into space, but I had a splitting headache that began about the time I stepped foot in our front door and continued all the way until bed time.  </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">4. I didn't read the second round of the Advantages Response Cards, and I didn't read Week 2 Day 2 of Beck either.  </div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm not at all upset with myself for not doing what I should be doing or planned to be doing in the least.  Sometimes there are just more important things that worrying about weight loss.</div>

Miscellaneous Weight Loss Challenges So Why Should I Be Afraid?

"The Lord is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid?  The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should ...

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