QOTD:

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder in your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewer of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it.” From – The Book of Merlyn, T. H. White

:)

Happy New Year :)

After a While

(Veronica Shoftshall, 1971)

After a while you learn the subtle difference

between holding a hand and chaining a soul

and you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

and company doesn’t always mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

and presents aren’t promises

and you begin to accept

your defeats

with your head up

and your eyes ahead

with the grace of woman,

not the grief of a child

And you learn to build

all your roads on today

because tomorrow’s ground

is too uncertain for plans

and futures have a way

of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn

that even sunshine burns

if you get too much

so you plant your own garden

and decorate your own soul

instead of waiting for someone

to bring you flowers.

And you learn

that you really can endure

you really are strong

you really do have worth

and you learn

and you learn

with every goodbye, you learn…

"Me" according to Elijah

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"Clean your room."

2. What makes mom happy?
Cleaning my room.

3. What makes mom sad?
Trashing the house.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
With her weird dance moves.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Probably pretty bad.

6. How old is your mom? 34

7. How tall is your mom?
Elijah: "How'm I supposed to know that?"
(me: just guess!)
Elijah: 5'8"


8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Go on facebook.


9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
I have NO idea!

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for??
Probably her dance moves.

11. What is your mom really good at?
She's very good at being bad at dancing.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
dancing


13. What does your mom do for her job?
Goes to college.


14. What is your moms favorite food?
Croissants.


15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Everything.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Minnie Mouse.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Talk.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We aren't good dancers.

19. How are you and your mom different?
she's a girl and I'm a guy

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
I just trust her.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
The beach.

Who needs sleep anyway?

A- Age: 34

B - Bed size: from King to Full, and it's just o.k.

C - Chore you hate: Making my kids do their chores.

D - Dad's Name: John Joseph Brophy

E - Essential start your day item: Caffeine and ire

F - Favorite actor(s): Christopher Walken; Harvey Keitel

G - Gold or Silver: Silver

H - Height: 5' 5"

I - Instruments you play(ed): clarinet, violin (secretly and barely)

J- Job title: Slave (the children *will* take my position...soon!)

K - Kid(s): Naomi (13), Elijah (11), Jonas (10) and Tamra Jane (8)

L - Living arrangements: Kids, a dog, a cat, and a fish and me - in a house.

M - Mom's name : Patricia Ann

N - Nicknames: secrets

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Definitely: car accident, surgery, & staying w/my daughter

P - Pet Peeve(s): inanimate objects that won't cooperate with me

Q - Quotes you like: I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Twain

R - Right or left handed: Left

S – Siblings: Erin and Joe

T - Time you wake up: 5:30-ish

V - Vegetable you dislike: Okra (blech)

W - Ways you run late: it would be easier to list the ways I do *not* run late...of which there are none.

X - X-rays you've had: all of them...thank you, car accident.

Y - Yummy food you make: Lots of stuff: Soups, breads, burritos...cupcakes! It's endless. I'm daring in the kitchen.

Z - Zodiac: gemini/taurus (so what!)

The Physiology of a Muscle Contraction or...

(if you call me, this is what we'll talk about)

Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 2:26am

Describe the physiology of a muscle contraction in complete detail:

When you touch a hot stove, your arm instantly reacts and jerks away from the heat. What actually takes place - to cause your arm to move away - is neuromuscular transmission. A sensory nerve detects heat, and sends a message to the central nervous system. The brain instantly sends a message by way of a motor neuron or efferent neuron to the skeletal muscle, in this case, the biceps brachii. At the neuromuscular junction, the neuron relaeases a chemical neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. The chemical diffuses across the synaptic gap, and affects the resting membrane potential.

Normally, a resting cell has a high concentration of potassium ion inside the cell, and a high concentration of sodium ion outside of the cell. In order to maintain these differing concentrations, the cell must expend energy to operate the sodium-potassium pump. The outside of the cell is lined with positive charges, while the inside of the cell is lined with negative charges. This is called the resting membrane potential. When the membrane is stimulated by the neurotransmitter, it becomes permeable to sodium, causing a switch in charge. This is known as depolarization. Repolarization occurs when the membrane becomes permeable to potassium, and then the sodium-potassium pump works to re-establish the resting membrane potential.

This excitation travels forward to the transverse tubules that run perpendicular to the myofibril. The message then crosses the cisterna and enters the sarcoplasmic reticulum which binds troponin of the actin filament. When not bound, this protein serves to inhibit myosin and actin from interacting. Now, the strand of tropomyosin moves aside, exposing the actin filament binding sites.

Actin binding sites join with the myosin hooks to form cross-bridges. An enzyme located in the myosin called ATPase releases the energy necessary. The myosin literally pulls the actin filament closer, causing the muscle to contract and shorten. When this happens, the H and I bands shorten, while the A band remains the same in length.

In order for the muscle to relax, the chemical cholinesterase must erase the effect of acetylcholine. When this happens, calcium returns to the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the muscle relaxes.

NOTE: In order to simplify the essay, a monosynaptic reflex was used, involving only a sensory and motor neuron. However, most actions have more than one synapse and involve many more neurons.

Another time waster I couldn't resist...

USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to tag the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone? unknown
2. Your significant other? omnipotent
3. Your hair? up
4. Your mother? sweet
5. Your father? loving
6. Your favorite thing? sunshine
7. Your dream last night? insignificant
8. Your favorite drink? hot
9. Your dream/goal? nursing
10. What room you are in? living
11. Your hobby? various
12. Your fear? handled
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? established
14. Where were you last night? meeting
16. Muffins? pumpkin
17. Wish list item? griddle
18. Where you grew up? NoVa
19. Last thing you did? dishes
20. What are you wearing? pajamas
21. Your TV? nonexistent
22. Your pets? jobs
23. Friends? smiles
24. Your life? grateful
25. Your mood? determined
26. Missing some one? no
27. Car? guzzler
28. Something you're not wearing? deodorant
29. Your favorite store? Ikea
30. Your favorite color? green
33. When is the last time you laughed? today
34. Last time you cried? forget
35. Who will resend this? whoever
36. One place that I go to over and over? UMA
37. One person who emails me regularly? FB
38. My favorite place to eat? home
39. Why you participated in this survey? Ben

Those 25 Random Things...

1. Once worked on a dairy farm and was paid in cash, goats, and chickens.

2. Am interested in woodworking and would love to be able to build my own 'stuff.'

3. Shoveling snow is my grown-up way of playing in the snow. I actually do like doing it.

4. I always tuck the blankets securely around my feet when I sleep. This has it's roots in a bad dream I had as a child about a giant ant, but it's also to keep warm.

5. Do not enjoy horror movies.

6. I do not ever watch TV when I'm home. Don't even have one plugged in.

7. Hoping to graduate and become a Nurse in just over two years.

8. Recovering coffee addict. I have to be very careful around that stuff. Have an extensive tea collection to make up for it.

9. Have had one 'best friend' since I was 14 years old. We met because I bummed a cigarette off of her in the basement during mass (Catholic.) We are still very close and talk at least weekly.

10. The last cigarette I ever had was over 13 years ago. Quit with my first pregnancy. Don't even remember what it was like.

11. I don't drink alcohol.

12. Am working on reading through the entire Bible this year.

13. After I graduate and all that, I'd like to take my children to all kinds of exotic and interesting places.

14. Would love to buy Rosetta Stone and really be able to speak a second language (along w/my kids).

15. Not into shopping, but I suppose having some money to spend could make that a more pleasurable experience.

16. Love to be out on the water - in a canoe, boat, whatever. Have not been kayaking before and would really like to do that.

17. Enjoy silence.

18. Thunderstorms make me want to go sit outside.

19. Another thing I want to do when I graduate is spoil a few of my friends who have *really* been there for me. I smile thinking about that. :)

20. If I lost my planner, I wouldn't know if I was coming or going.

21. I am not naturally organized; not even a little. My method of organization is to get rid of stuff all the time so I have less to deal with.

22. Would probably not ever be classified as fashionable. I'm pretty sure I'm a 'fashion disaster.'

23. Lived in a homeless shelter with my children for 45 days once. Then we built our home with Habitat for Humanity while renting.

24. I know how to make bread and cakes almost by heart (but do like trying new recipes.) I don't have any measuring cups, but things still turn out great. Must be the love I put in there.

25. Am okay with being 'alone.'

Accident

Family tragedy.

hand-made with sympathy

Move over Mcdonald's...

'Cause you can't even compete with this!

Chocolate covered snowy goodness.

Just another sun-snowy day here!

Pretty, pretty princess!

He hasn't lost a game yet.

Back to basics...with flair!

Nothin' beats your son bringing this home from school for you:

The cure for inconsistency?

Wow - what a great week this is turning out to be! Sometimes, the most stressful of times are the times of highest growth.

Through more praying, and listening, I think I have realized the root of my inconsistency. It is another one of those beliefs I'm holding. Another one of those that I would never say out loud, but have obviously been holding as truth.

It goes like this, "From now on, I will...."

Or, "Every day, I'm going to..."

You know what? Habits don't start that way and they don't go away that easily. I wrote something down in my Bible once:
"Habits are too weak to be felt, until they are too strong to break."

So, here is what I realized. I can't take these bad habits of mine, and declare them gone. I can't decide, in one moment, that I will do "this, this, this, and that" differently. I have to make this decision each morning!

Last night, I made a list of all that needs to be done; the many things I have been neglecting around here, and the everyday things that I don't want to be lazy about.

Then, I decided that just for tomorrow, I would diligently work through my list, and not just let the day go by. I even included my exercise, and some down time, on my list - because those things are important, too! (Just in the right doses, right?)

Tonight, when getting ready for bed, I am going to do this again...and commit that "just for tomorrow," I will have these good habits.

My pastor told me once, that a well-lived life is built one day at a time; made up of a series of daily making the right choices.

My problem arises with trying to see my whole life all at once. So, for today, I will be thinking about today. Tonight, I will prepare for tomorrow, and look forward to living just that day. And, one day, I hope to look back upon a series of well-lived days.

I would never say that!

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..."

We had had one of those tense mornings; where no one can find their shoes, someone still has homework they forgot to do, and we can't miss the bus, because Mommy doesn't have time to make the trip to school today. I wasn't very patient or proud of the way I handled the morning.

Finally, the kids are all settled on their buses, and I'm on my way to Chemistry. I am thinking a little; praying a little...and I have this major realization (which, in reality, was an answer to my praying.)

When I am with someone else's children, I am on my "best behaviour." I am more patient, and more forgiving. Now, I know that some of that has to do with me not being responsible for how they turn out in the end; but it also shows that I believe something I would never say out loud.

The thing I would never say is that I can treat my children poorly because they are "mine." I can be on my worst behaviour in front of them because, since we live together, they get to see the real me.

You know what my realization was? They are NOT mine!

I'm picturing this scenario:

A father is dropping off his children at my house in the morning - for me to babysit. I'm dressed and ready when they show up. I'm cheerful and pleasant; the house is clean and welcoming. While I care for these children, I'm patient and even spend time teaching them some good behaviour, or correcting some bad choices.

Add a video camera to the scenario. How much more concerned would I be with my actions throughout the day, knowing that this loving father would be catching up with his children's day via video later on?

This isn't just a scenario - this is what I am doing every day. These are not my children...they are God's children. He is always watching me care for them, and I'm surprised he has not replaced me yet.

This thought - this answer to prayer on my way to class - is staying with me. I wanted to share it as I can see how much it has affected my daily life - for the better.

Anyone can be on their best in front of visitors...but's where it really counts is in the home. I'm thankful for God's patience and correction in my daily life.