Writing and Living

Two Things

2011-03-05T13:15:00.003-06:00

I meant it when I said I moved. You can update your feed by clicking this button:

I also wrote a book! It's been published by Cruciform Press. You can read more about it at Cruciform Press.

Not to be pushy, but you here is the button to update your feed again:

Would you like a bigger button?

Whether you choose to update your feed or not, thanks so much for reading.

I've still moved!

2010-06-18T11:54:00.001-05:00

I'm now blogging at writingandliving.net. Click on over there. And, not to be pushy or anything, but you can update your feed while you're at it.

What, you're still here?

2010-01-18T07:44:00.004-06:00

I moved the blog to my own domain: writingandliving.net". Which is a different domain than where I moved it last week. Click on over to get the whole story. See you on the other side!

I've moved

2010-01-13T16:17:00.002-06:00

You can find me here

I'll leave this blog up for a while, but new blogging will commence at my new site.

Thanks.

In Which I Wear the Foil Hat to Watch TV

2009-08-27T08:50:00.006-05:00

The new channels are here. I celebrated last night by being very careful to watch programs that I hadn't been able to get before. Because I couldn't bear the thought of spending my first night with digital cable watching the ten o'clock news on a channel that I could get with rabbit ears.

I was a little worried about the installation appointment. Besides the fact that I don't like to have strangers in my space in general, my children, in anticipation of getting more channels, had doubled up on school work all week in order to spend the whole of Wednesday afternoon curdling their minds with vacuous children's programming.

I didn't mind that so much (since I was planning on spending a bit of time watching HGTV myself), but I didn't really want them to ANNOUNCE to the cable guy that they were homeschooled and were going to watch TV all day in celebration.

Just wait and let Mommy announce that on the Internet, okay kids?

But at the end of the appointment is when things went south. Because while Brian at the cable help desk was busy telling me that I sounded twenty-five on the phone, he was also telling me that I only needed one cable box. And while I couldn't understand how that could possibly work, I didn't want to strain my young-sounding voice by asking too many questions. Besides, I assumed that since he worked at the cable company help desk, surely he knew what he was talking about.

I'll pause while you laugh at my naivete.

It turns out that without the second cable box, we are unable to receive a very crucial cartoon channel on the downstairs TV. I took this very well, and was careful not to yell at the installer. Because working retail has made me very sympathetic to service people. If you yell at someone for something that they have no control over, they will go home and cry all night and eat lots of chocolate. Just like it's not fair to scream at the pharmacist because your insurance doesn't work, it wouldn't be fair to yell at the cable installer because Brian at the help desk is a silver-tongued flatterer.

I'm not sure what a service person would have to do to make me yell at them, but I think they would have to do something grievous, like spray paint obscenities on my van. And then I would probably ask them nicely not to do it again or I'll be forced to talk to their boss.

But by the end of the day, the nice local cable people had given me a new box. All I had to do was hook it up and call the 800 number to have the people at the help desk activate it. They also had to wipe out the previous owner's parental control PIN number. Since I can't remember my own PIN numbers, I certainly can't be expected to figure out someone else's PIN.

But now I'm a little freaked out about the fact that someone sitting in an office far away can reset the PIN numbers on a cable box in my family room. And even though I know that part of the problem is that I just finished reading 1984, I now remember that when I had a cable box back in days of old, I used to worry that it would be extremely easy for them to hide a camera in one of those things.

In other words, my paranoia goes way back.

Oh I kid. I'm not really that paranoid. Because everybody knows that they really watch you through your microwave.

Will Work for Food. And Digital Cable.

2009-08-22T07:49:00.000-05:00

In my effort to wrap up the last post with something clever (and bear in mind that "clever" is often a relative term), I mentioned something about checking to see if I could add more channels to our cable lineup. Because our basic package cuts off at just three channels below Fox News, and that's just not fair.

But really, I just kind of tossed that out there. My reasoning for the bare-bones basic was that we watch too much TV as it is, why add more temptation? And since my children still manage to recite entire Spongebob episodes despite the fact that they can only watch Nickelodeon every six weeks or so a Grandma's, I didn't feel like they were really missing out on much.

I seemed to have forgotten that I can rationalize almost anything. Over the past couple of days I convinced myself that more channels meant that their limited TV time would be spent watching something they truly wanted to watch, not just settling for something just because it's on. You know, quality TV programs. Like, for instance, Spongebob.

The next thing I knew, I was chatting with Brian at the cable company. And Brian was able to put together an extended basic package that costs LESS than what we're paying now. And somewhere between Brian telling me that I sounded so very young on the phone, that I couldn't possibly be more than twenty-five, and setting up the service appointment, I was signed up for digital cable for just five dollars more a month.

Let me tell you, we've got a lot of channels coming.

I went down to tell Theodore the great news. And for the record, Theodore was not exactly standing in the way of the cable upgrade. Because nothing spells excitement for Theodore like watching reruns of PGA tournaments from the 80s on the Golf Channel.

But Theodore hadn't been talking to Brian at the Cable Company. And Brian at the Cable Company hadn't been telling Theodore that he couldn't possibly be older than twenty-five because he sounded so young. So Theodore reminded me that often they give you an introductory rate at first. And just when you've grown accustomed watching things like, say, twenty-four hour golf analysis, they jack the price up. Did I make sure this was not just an introductory rate, he asked.

Um, no. I sort of forgot. But Brian was sooo nice that I'm sure he would have mentioned something if that was the case. Ahem.

So, I told the kids, and there was much rejoicing. Let's hope it lasts.

Always Love Your Country, But Never Trust Your Government

2009-08-20T13:05:00.003-05:00

My parents, a couple of Reagan Republicans if there ever were ones, applied his statement that "all great change in America happens at the dinner table" by turning on CNN's Crossfire while we ate. (Saturday was The Capital Gang, and Sunday was 60 Minutes. If I'm feeling homesick, the opening sequence of 60 minutes can make me tear up.) And while I made plenty of cracks about having to listen to old men argue every night during dinner, it helped shape me into the person I am today, not to mention ace every current events quiz during my school career.

So, while most people of my generation felt a pang of nostalgia at the passage of celebrities like Farrah Fawcett, John Hughes, and Michael Jackson, I feel a pang of nostalgia at the passing of CNN commentators.

We haven't had cable news for several years, and there are few network anchors that I can watch without yelling at the television, so I was pretty much out of the loop. I had no idea that Bob Novak had written an autobiography. When I went online and discovered that the library had a copy of his book, I actually thought that I needed to get there right away, since his passing would probably induce a mob of people to rush down and check it out.

Because sometimes I actually forget how weird I really am.

Fortunately, it still had no been checked out by 8:45 last night when I finally got there. I've only read up to the 1960 election, but I like it so far (it's a long book, so I've got a long way to go).

It's been a while since I've read this kind of book, and I had nearly forgotten how much I enjoy reading about political history. Ever since I read The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys in high school, and incredulously announced to my amused parents that the Kennedys had ties to the Irish Mob, I've been a sucker for the inside story. (I had been exposed enough of the media's breathless "Camelot" remembrances to actually think this tidbit would be NEWS to them).

So, I'll let you know how it goes. Right now I have to figure out how much it would cost to get cable news added to our plan.

To Build a Fire

2009-08-18T23:25:00.005-05:00

My sister has informed me that I need to blog.

I aim to please.

It's gratifying to know that she actually wants to hear from me, because I still haven't quite gotten over the time she told me to stop walking through the living room with my hot dog-shaped pillow while her friends were over.

I did send her a text message earlier this summer that supposedly made her laugh so hard she choked on a carrot. That's one achievement the memory of which I will treasure forever.

This week marked the beginning of all the local schools. This means that my poor children have to occupy themselves, rather than relying on he neighborhood children.

Today's project? To build a fire. Peter learned how to start a fire by rubbing sticks together at church camp this year, and he wanted to recreate this bit of wilderness-survival magic for his siblings. He also wanted to see flames in the driveway, but I'm trying to focus on the educational, sharing aspect of it all.

Peter has big dreams of taking Les Stroud's spot on Survivorman someday. But I'm suspicious of his ability of living in the wilderness on nothing but bugs and worms if he won't even eat carrots.

My neighbor thinks that I'm a shockingly lenient parent, so I'm sure the sight of my children trying to start a fire in the driveway just confirmed her suspicions. I'm really not worried, though, because most of my favorite memories of fun times with my cousins involve setting fires in driveways, and we're all productive members of society.

Anyway, despite some promising smoke, the fire never appeared. Camellia wanted to solve the problem by using matches, but I nixed that. Starting a fire by rubbing sticks together is educational. Using matches is delinquency.

But then it started to thunder, so I made them come in.

Because starting a fire in the driveway is one thing, but being outside in a thunderstorm is dangerous.

Just for kicks, to see if I remember my password

2009-08-16T23:34:00.003-05:00

Well! How about that.

I took a little break from blogging. Kind of like that one time in 2006 when I took a little break from dieting that has continued to this day.

Anyway.

Since it's taken me twenty minutes to get this far, what with all the wondering how to sum up four months in pithy, interesting paragraphs, I'll give you bullet points. Be forewarned, they're mostly about cleaning and organizing. I'm sorry about that, but I have truly become that boring. Just be glad I was on my blog break on the day I cleaned out the junk drawer in the kitchen.

After years of swearing that I hated "to-do" lists, I've actually discovered that I ENJOY "to-do" lists. (Don't tell Theodore, because I've been making fun of his lists for the past fifteen years.) The key, apparently, is to make the list realistic. Who knew? So, rather than covering two sheets of paper with things like, "index books with Dewey decimal system" and "clean attic, garage, and all closets," only to feel defeated if I don't get it all done in one day, I put down things that I can actually get done in a day. Revolutionary, I know. Remember, you read it here first, folks.
The same holds true for meal planning. I've tried countless meal plans in the past. Here's one that I immortalized in a "Works for Me Wednesday" post. I used it for a total of a month, before tossing it aside. The binder has found a new life holding Peter's Language Arts papers. The problem, it seems, is I would plan a week's worth of things like fried chicken, stuffed pork chops, and a full turkey dinner, only to find myself so exhausted by Wednesday that I was slamming an opened can of beanie weenies on the table and calling it supper.
This post is quickly turning into a commercial, because I used the Motivated Moms planner and Mealtime Makeover meal plan. I'm incapable or original solutions, so I must pay others for theirs.
We are on Week 3 of school. I have never been this organized at the beginning of the year. (See the first bullet point above.) I've got lessons plans for the first half of the year completely done, and I'm nearly done with all the plans for the second half of the year. Since by February I tend to start thinking that only a special kind of crazy would take on homeschooling, and want to do nothing more than eat chocolate and watch TV adaptations of Victorian novels, I am hoping this helps carry me through.
I love binders and 3-hole punches. Someday I hope to find a job where I can print papers, punch holes in them, and put them in binders. It would make me very happy.
I found this tutorial via Megan's blog. I am going to make some of these. I think this is the one missing link to my achieving organizational bliss.

Planning

2009-04-22T07:06:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again. Planning for next year. Theodore loves this time, because not only do I follow him around the house espousing the virtues and downfalls of various curricula I'm considering, I also spend lots of money.

This will be my third year with Tapestry of Grace. I feel like I should be handed some sort of prize for sticking with a curriculum three years in a row. I had a chance to look at a friend's copy of Learning Language Arts Through Literature last night, and I didn't even crack the cover. I will not be swayed by the siren song of a new curriculum.

Of course, we're also going to stick with Rod and Staff for grammar. This will be our fifth year with it. I have become a Rod and Staff evangelist, since I've enlisted one friend on the program, and have almost persuaded three more. The kids have never particularly enjoyed Rod and Staff, but have never complained...much. Peter, however, has realized this year that none of his other friends are having to diagram sentences with subordinate clauses and thinks perhaps there might be an easier way to do this. And I just laugh, because I'm cruel that way.

And then there's science. Science is the subject that always causes me the most consternation, which is ironic since that's my background. I had never seriously considered Bob Jones University Press. Since Theodore and I are way more conservative than the rest of the world, so it's a little freaky to discover a publisher that is even more conservative than we are. But I received the books yesterday, and they're so shiny and beautiful and rigorous. It's just what I'm looking for.

Now for the hard part. I have to actually finish THIS year's stuff.

Okay, so I'm a day late

2009-03-08T23:02:00.003-05:00

But I finally got around to drawing the winners for What He Must Be...If He Wants to Marry My Daughter.

So, Dy and Rebecca, you win! I'll get the books out to you as soon as I receive them.

Thanks to all for entering.

What He Must Be - A Review and Giveaway

2009-03-04T11:48:00.005-06:00

One day, while I was home visiting my parents from college, I ran into a high school friend. She had been one of the "nice kids" in school. She attended the Bible Study that met in the choir room on Thursday mornings, and was active in her church's youth group. She had been engaged for quite a long time, and she was telling me how her wedding was still more than two years away. She and her intended had to finish college first, because, as she put it, "we have our priorities straight".

Now, unbeknownst to her (and I wasn't completely sure myself, but I had a pretty good idea), I was a mere days away from receiving an engagement ring of my own. And since Theodore and I were married about eight months later (before I was *gasp* finished with college), I obviously didn't agree with her reasoning for a long engagement.

I've lost touch with my friend, so I have no idea how things turned out for her. But her story is not unusual. Most people my age were raised with this mindset: get your education, then you can start thinking about marriage. And this advice is given with the best of intentions. Education opens many doors, and it's certainly easier to get an education when you're single and unattached. But somewhere along the way, we started revering education above marriage. In the book What He Must Be...If He Wants to Marry My Daughter, Voddie Baucham agrees:

Imagine a family who did not prepare their children for college. This would be unthinkable in today’s world. Everyone prepares their child for an academic future. Day-care programs boast about the head start they will give children in their “academic careers.” We buy houses in neighborhoods with “the best schools.” Beyond that, many families place their children in expensive preparatory schools, enduring tremendous financial burdens, incurring debt, and commuting hours each day in an effort to give their children an edge in that all-important race for the apex of academia.

However, little thought is given to preparing our sons to be husbands. Thus, they meander through life without the skills or mind-set necessary to play this most important role until one day, having met “the one,” they pop the question, set a date, and—in the rarest of cases—go to the pastor to learn everything they need to know about being the priest, prophet, provider, and protector of a household in four one-hour sessions. In the words of that great theologian Dr. Phil, “How’s that workin’ for ya?”

Baucham asserts that marriage is something parents should be actively preparing our children for. He lays the biblical foundation for the parents' (especially the father's) role in raising our daughters to be wives and our sons to be husbands.

Discussions of patriarchy and courtship are often met with resistance. But Baucham is not advocating a godfather-type mentality, in which parents control their adult children's lives indefinitely. Nor is he a proponent of keeping our girls at home and out of college - an extreme view that is gaining an alarming amount of traction among some ultra-conservative homeschoolers. He fully expects his daughter to go to college, and he is very clear that his daughter's future husband is to be the leader of her family. His purpose is to make parents aware of the importance of their responsibilities to their sons and daughters.

I have observed that occasionally when a couple's offspring turn out well, the temptation is strong for them to take an inordinate amount of credit. Not only does this make them obnoxious, it is little help for parents who are hurting. Pastor Baucham does a good job of reminding us that parents should be intentionally raising their children to be husbands and wives because it is their biblical duty before God, and stays away from the mentality that if you do a, b, and c, your children will be perfect and have trouble-free lives.

This book is primarily written for fathers, but I recommend it to any parent. And while it tends to dwell a bit more on protecting our daughters, fathers of boys will benefit just as much.

I highly recommend this book. And, thanks to the generosity of Crossway, I have two copies to give away. If you'd like a chance to win, just leave a comment. I'll draw a winner on Saturday, March 7th.

Comments Closed. Thanks to all who entered.

Can you hear me now?

2009-03-03T07:17:00.004-06:00

So, when I pull up my blog, I'm getting a blank screen.

I'm surprisingly calm about this, which just goes to show how off I've been on my bloggy game these days.

Hmmm. Blog's gone. I guess I'll go check Facebook.

Then there's a voice in the back of my mind that reminds me that this could be a big deal. Not because I've ever said anything that needs to be preserved for the ages, but more along the lines that I've spent an awful lot of time on this thing over the past four years, so it would be a crying shame to have nothing to show for it.

Unlike that ten-page paper I had to write for Cultural Anthropology in college, which I whipped off in two hours because I had just met Theodore the week before and needed to get to church that evening to see him again. I walked into my professor's office, slid the paper across his desk, and said, "Excuse me, but I've got to go see about a man."

Not really, I think I actually slid it under his door and ran. But I turned it in and never looked back.

Anyway, can you see this? Am I here? Am I being silenced?

I think it may be a vast left-wing conspiracy.

And a post to assuage my guilt

2009-02-27T21:40:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, back in the days when I updated regularly, I agreed to participate in a blog tour for a new book release.

Because who wouldn't their book promoted by a blogger who only gets around to posting every 15 days?

The good news is, I like the book. Which is nice.

And two weeks later, she blogs again

2009-02-12T15:05:00.004-06:00

I'm sure you're as tired of reading my excuses for not updating as I am of typing them, so let's dive right in as if nothing happened, okay?

So, I'm PLANNING again. That means my couch is covered in binders, books, and writing instruments. And for the record, I think that having four pens at one's feet at all times is PERFECTLY LOGICAL and need not be commented on by one's spouse.

The goal is to have the entire quarter planned, written down, and in Homeschool Tracker before we start on Monday. And don't even bring up the possibility that someone could get sick and therefore not school for half a week because there is no room for that thought in my world right now. We have a schedule, and we're sticking to it.

The main point is to have it in Homeschool Tracker. That seems to be the weak link. That way, if we're out and about during school hours, and someone comments that my kids aren't in school, I don't have to sit and wonder if I've updated my log in the last ~~month~~ week or so. The idea of the authorities knocking on my door is a lot less stressful if I can picture myself handing them a printout of all my hours instead of gathering an armful of scraps of paper and saying, "It's all written down in here....somewhere."

It also appears that I dither over phonics programs once per kid. I am now done dithering and am embracing, once again, the Explode the Code/Sonlight I Can Read It books for Samuel. This is the combo that I used to teach Peter and Camellia to read. I don't know WHY I keep thinking I need to re-invent the wheel, but I do. Samuel's reading lessons seem to be going swimmingly, despite the fact that his mother can't seem to make up her mind what to do with him.

If I had a fourth child (which isn't in the plan, I'm just being theoretical, here), would I STILL feel the need to try new phonics programs, or would I just stick with what I know works? Hard to say.

Christmas Books

2009-01-30T14:23:00.004-06:00

Because I took my accidental blogging break when I did, I never got around to mentioning the books I got for Christmas. I don't know why, because I love to use the carousel widget from Amazon.

I realize that these selections all together might seem a little, er, gloomy. Lest you think you think my loved ones are trying to tell me something by buying me books on depression and suffering, the gloomy books are books I purchased with gift cards.

Amazon.com Widgets

Trusting God is a book I originally checked out at our church library, and then went and bought because it's that good. As someone who tends toward anxiety, a healthy dose of God's sovereignty is the only thing that has ever helped me. Jerry Bridges is such a gift to the body of Christ.

The other ones are just books that interest me. I am trying to learn more about Nouthetic Counseling. I think that it's intriguing that my grandparents' generation lived through two world wars and the Great Depression without the help of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, and still ended up happier than your average clinical psychologist. (And here is my disclaimer. I know that antidepressants have been a lifesaver to many people. But the numbers of people taking these drugs is staggering. I don't think we're ALL suffering from chemical imbalances.)

So, I have lots of interesting reading ahead of me.

Digging out from the ice to say hello

2009-01-28T22:45:00.004-06:00

So when you take a nearly-month-long blogging break, the first post back is kind of a pressure-filled thing. I mean, I've had twenty-eight days, surely in that amount of time I can come up with something fabulous.

Apparently not. I've spent the past four days watching news coverage of Winter Storm '09, and even though they really haven't said anything new about said storm in the past 48 hours, I can't look away for fear that the ultimate picture of ice-covered, sagging power lines will appear and I will have missed it because I wasn't paying attention.

I've also spent a bit of time feeling grateful that I'm spending Winter Storm '09 plugged in, since we spent Ice Storm '08 huddled around the fireplace. And we weren't huddled around there because it we were feeling rustic. We were huddled around there because we had no power, so we really WERE rustic.

But seriously, people south of us got socked. The damage is horrible. And I am grateful for the power. Theodore and I discuss it every 15 minutes or so:

I'm so glad we have power this time.

Yes, me too.

We reverse the lines every now and again just for variety.

The kids, on the other hand, talk about how great it was to camp out in the family room and ask if we can do it again "just for fun."

So even though this is my dream come true (being stuck in the house with my family and my books), I haven't got much reading done. Part of the reason is that I'm spending my days in the kitchen helping children in and out of snow gear. The rest of the time I'm watching the extended news coverage.

Doesn't make for interesting blog posts.

Actually, I almost have too many ideas going right now. And while I am fully aware that many of them might turn out to be hopelessly lame when I get them on the screen (my Blogger Dashboard is full of drafts that started out as brilliant blog posts gone horribly wrong), I think that trying to put everything I now want to say in one post would drive the few of you that are still checking in away forever.

So for now, let's just pretend that I never stopped blogging, and this is just your typical update post.

Bible Reading Plan

2008-12-31T11:39:00.002-06:00

I've mentioned before how much I've enjoyed the Bible Reading Plan in my Literary Study Bible. I've tried almost every Bible reading plan around, this is my favorite, and it's been the easiest for me to stick to.

I was blessed to receive an ESV Study Bible from my dear husband for Christmas, in the color that I wanted, despite the fact that Theodore didn't see the very blunt hint that I dropped a couple of months ago. It, too, contains the same reading plan found in the Literary Study Bible.

Thanks to Justin Taylor, I've discovered printable bookmarks listing the readings. The brilliant thing is, they are arranged so you can print on two sides of the paper and the readings line up correctly.

But if you don't have a printer that prints front and back automatically, just be sure you thoroughly understand how to put the paper in the printer, otherwise you will be left with several sheets of colored paper with both pages printed on the SAME SIDE. Which is illegible. Just so you know.

From the introduction to the plan:

This schedule of daily Bible readings is designed for reading through the entire Bible in one year.

There are four readings for each day. These readings are divided into four main sections: Psalms and Wisdom Literature; Pentateuch and the History of Israel; Chronicles and Prophets; and Gospels and Epistles.

In order to make the readings come out evenly, four major books of the Bible are included twice in the schedule: the Psalms (the Bible’s hymnal), Isaiah (the grandest of the OT prophets), Luke (one of the four biblical Gospels), and Romans (the heart of the Bible’s theology of salvation).

Now that I've finally got the bookmarks to print out correctly (ahem), I'm off to eat a New Year's Eve lunch, with a stop at Kinkos to have my fancy new bookmarks laminated.

Happy 2009, everyone!

The Reason for the Season Whole Year

2008-12-24T08:20:00.003-06:00

In case you haven't been paying attention, it's Christmas. I'm sure you've been bombarded with commercials touting sales and special deals and all manner of commercialism. And if you hang around "churchy" people like me, I'm sure you've been instructed to remember that "Jesus is the reason for the season." Which is good.

Now, I've tried to say this before, but this is where I get misunderstood. So please, give me the benefit of the doubt. And if I still make you mad, give me the benefit of the doubt some more.

And bear in mind that I've got about five minutes to finish this before I have to get up and pack and head out the door, so I don't have time to nice it up.

We need to remember Christ at Christmas. I strive to do so in my family. We have a nativity scene, we talk about the real reason for celebration.

But (you knew it was coming, didn't you)

What about the rest of the year?

Because no matter how you feel about the liturgical calendar, and whether or not you believe that our Christmas celebrations are a revamp of the pagan solstice celebrations or the earnest attempt of early Christians to determine the date of Christ's birth, you're not going to find anything in the Bible that tells you to celebrate Christmas.

Now, before you pull up Outlook and get ready to fire off an angry e-mail, hear me out.

I get it. I get that Christmas is a great time to remind the world that Christ came to save us. I get the fact that it's become so commercialized that the real meaning can be lost if we're not careful.

But how are we doing on the things we are commanded to do? I can pull up verses where we are commanded to observe the Lord's Supper regularly (and take it seriously) without breaking a sweat, but I am often dismayed by how casually we approach His table (present company included).

The Bible is full of versus that describe God's holiness, but when we bother to approach Him in prayer, we do it with a flippancy and irreverence that we wouldn't dare use with our employer.

It's wonderful that we put our change in the Salvation Army bucket, but what about our regular giving? Are we giving as much as we can? Are we neglecting our obligations to the church while our pastors are living in poverty?

When a harried store clerk naively wishes us a "Happy Holidays" do we self-righteously correct her, instructing an unbeliever that it should be "Merry Christmas," and then walk out smugly without realizing that we've just ensured that she won't be visiting our church anytime soon?

So as bothered as I am at the commercialization at Christmas, I'm even more bothered when we box our warm, fuzzy feelings up with the decorations, and proceed to spend the rest of the year living like everyone else.

Present company included.

So yes, let's keep Christ in Christmas. And let's keep him in the other 364 days of the year as well.

Uncertainty

2008-12-15T06:30:00.004-06:00

We could get some weather today.

Or not.

That's kind of how it works here, so I always view weather reports dubiously. It would be better if weather people would just stand in front of the map, shrug, and say, "You know, it's Missouri, so just be ready for anything, okay?"

They cry wolf more often than not. Except for last year when we got a huge ice storm and were without power for two days. Or the time when they said we were very likely to have tornadoes that evening and an F3 demolished two houses right down the street.

Since Theodore has a significant commute, and also because I am descended from and have given birth to people who watch the Weather Channel for entertainment, I am compelled to watch until I have some answers, which takes awhile. The consensus at this point seems to be freezing drizzle, but I made Theodore take a big candle and matches with him in case the freezing drizzle turns out to be a Ice Storm '08: December Edition. (I was once told a candle can keep you from freezing to death if you're stranded in your car. If it's not true don't tell me, because I get untold comfort from the fact that he could huddle around that candle and survive, and feel all Ma Ingalls-ish and prepared by handing it to him.)

I also have to watch school closings, because even though we homeschool, snow days wreak havoc with my school plans. I can be pretty mean, but not even I can make my kids do school if every child in the neighborhood is in our backyard sledding, and in turn in my kitchen drinking hot chocolate.

So I have to go. My usually tranquil early morning has been spent watching early morning news, which hardly makes a person feel tranquil. And if I'm in for a snow day, I need some quiet and more coffee.

When we last left our heroine...

2008-12-11T15:23:00.002-06:00

Okay, I so did not mean to go over a week without posting. Sorry about that.

Let's see. Since my last post, we've learned that we need repairs on our septic system that will require a backhoe. Upon hearing that bit of news, one of the water pipes under the house gave way and started spraying water everywhere. But it's all okay, because it's not like December is a month where we have a lot of extra gifts to buy or anything.

That was sarcasm, in case you were wondering.

But seriously, it's all okay. The silver lining in all this is that all these repairs could have been much worse than they are. And, since every time Theodore and I turn around we're presented with a sermon, Bible study, or Sunday school lesson on not grumbling, it's been kind of interesting to get plenty of time for real life application.

And then, just when I was starting to get my bloggy mojo back, the politics in the state of my birth (Illinois) became so dramatic that I've spent a good part of the last couple of days constantly refreshing the Drudge Report and teaching the kids the new vocabulary word of the week: megalomania. Or, the new word coined by my nephew, "Blagojasity: stupidity to the extent of ridiculousness. Today's word was brought to you by the letters F B & I."

I am SO GLAD we don't have any Chicago politicians running our country.

That was sarcasm again.

Anyway, I may have mentioned it a time or sixty, but I am not a joiner. I have to be careful, because when someone asks me to do something, my first inclination is to say no. And sometimes, they're asking me to do something fun or really important or necessary, and I have to make sure that I'm not turning down a free trip to Hawaii or refusing to help them hold their purse while they run off to pull children from burning buildings.

I could give you links that prove it's my very rare and introverted personality type that makes me this way (I'm an INFJ), but you probably wouldn't read them, and I can't shake the feeling that I'm really this way because I'm lazy. Which is ironic because it says right on there that an INFJ tends to be "a perfectionist who doubts that they are living up to their full potential."

All this to say, when the leader of my children's homeschool jumprope team asked me to take over for a couple of weeks while she was out of town, and I agreed, I was the most surprised person in the room.

Let's reflect. A crowded, noisy gym with lots of kids. Doing something athletic. I am in charge. That's so far out of my comfort zone that I'm wondering if I was running a temperature when I agreed.

And did I mention they had a performance, too? Yeah.

So a lot of the last week has been gearing up for that. But it went fine, mostly because the kids are great, but also because our church's Senior Adult Sunday School class is not what one would consider a tough audience.

So now I can concentrate on our last week of school. And Christmas. And political scandals in the state of Illinois. Just perhaps not in that order.

Monday already?

2008-12-01T06:56:00.003-06:00

After eating our Thanksgiving feast at Theodore's mother's house, Theodore and I got into the car and left our children there. But it was okay, we asked her first.

This meant that Theodore and I have been alone, with no kids, since Thursday. We spent our time sitting around, staring into space, watching TV, and eating. I feel such a sense of accomplishment.

And I think it's very intriguing that once I leave to go get the children, my schedule is so full that I will not be able to sit down and think until Tuesday night at 7:45.

I think I need to go rest some more.

Turkeys Away

2008-11-27T08:18:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I have much to be thankful for.

For Today, A Meme

2008-11-25T07:05:00.002-06:00

I haven't done a meme in a while. I found this one at nikkipolani, and it looked like fun.

1. Can you remember without looking what your first post was about?

Yes, I can. And please don't go back and check. It was perhaps the lamest post ever, but I had to get something up there. It wasn't about anything in particular (which has kind of turned into a theme), just that I'd started a blog and here it is. It's a testament to my commitment to keeping it real that I've left it up. That and the fact that I'd pretty much forgotten about it until this question.

2. Where did you write it?

The computer was down in the family/play/school room back then. Actually, the computer is still there, but I have a laptop now. These days I blog from the living room couch. My tagline used to say "thoughts from the blue plaid couch" to reflect that.

3. Which was the first blog you read?

I'm pretty sure it was Donna's.

4. Who did/do you tell about your blog, if anyone?

I only told Theodore for several weeks. Four years ago, you usually had to explain what a blog even was. I felt foolish enough, explaining it all was painful. I think I told my writers group next, as I figured they would understand the compulsive need to write stuff. Finally I sent a link to my mother, sisters, aunts, and closest friends. It's only been in the past few months that I put a link in my email signature, so now I have a lot of people who know me in real life who read.

5. Has your blog ever caused a scandal?

Not that I'm aware of. I have shared my opinion in the comments on other blogs, and strife ensued. It's the kind of thing that most people probably thought nothing of, but I hate conflict of any kind, and was therefore upset for days.

6. Tell us something random which happened as a result of blogging?

Hmmm. I don't know if it's random, but I've made a lot of friends through this.

7. Snog, Marry or Avoid - pick another blogger for each.

Um, I think I'm going to pass on that one.

8. What’s your most amusing blog memory?

Hands down, it was the blog party I hosted for my mom's 70th birthday

This Week's Reading

2008-11-15T09:09:00.006-06:00

It's been a week of fiction.

In the spirit of "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all", I'll only talk about the fiction that was decent.

I talked about Expectations, by Melanie Jeschke, last week, but since I finished it this week (and since I don't want to talk about the books I threw down in disgust), I'll mention it again.

There are a lot of things that are just going to appeal to me about this series. It's set in Oxford. It's character-driven. The characters spend a lot of time talking about writers like Shakespeare and C.S. Lewis. The author makes several subtle nods to Jane Austen by giving characters names like Austen, Bingley, and Elinor. I mean, what's not to like?

All that to say, I would have liked this series if it hadn't been so well done. But it was well done, which made it all the more enjoyable.

I'm not saying that this is going to be the next enduring classic, but it was a very fun read, and that's really nice sometimes.

I talked about Evasions, also by Melanie Jeschke, yesterday. It's a prequel to the other books in the Oxford Chronicles series, set during World War II. I swallowed this one whole. Very fun.

And then I tried some other fiction, but I'm not going to talk about that.

But when it comes to a good love story, does any body do it better than Jane Austen? I think not. Miss Austen is the master, so I picked Persuasion up off the shelf and started it. Again. I tend to read through Austen's oeuvre every year or so. I think this may be one of those times.

It's been a couple of years since I read Pride and Prejudice and Emma. They may be next.

Unless I get distracted by something else, first.