Friday, March 23, 2007
Stay-at-Home Moms
Having always been a stay-at-home mom, even when I had part-time jobs here and there, I never experienced the difference it makes in a person's lifestyle, attitude, health, income, etc. My friend Elizabeth posted some really great stuff about her life in the corporate world and her decision to run away from it and find a life at home. It's encouraging to those of us who take our at-home lives for granted and wonder if maybe it wouldn't be so bad to go out there and play the career game. Things like what Elizabeth wrote bring some sound perspective to such silly notions.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Parents Who Drug Us
Seen at the Imperfect Homeschooler's blog:
The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county, and he asked me a rhetorical question.
"Why didn't you and I have a drug problem when we were growing up?"
I replied that I had a drug problem when I was young:
I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials, no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out to pull weeds in Mom's garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of Dad's fields. I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.
Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.
~author unknown~
God bless the parents who drugged us.
The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county, and he asked me a rhetorical question.
"Why didn't you and I have a drug problem when we were growing up?"
I replied that I had a drug problem when I was young:
I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials, no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out to pull weeds in Mom's garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of Dad's fields. I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.
Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.
~author unknown~
God bless the parents who drugged us.
Worthily Lamenting Our Sins
The catechism says: That person is truly worthy and well-prepared [to receive the Lord's Supper] who has faith in these words, "Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins." But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words "for you" require all hearts to believe.
My ears keep tripping over the new LSB collect for the Lenten season. It says, "Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness." TLH said, "Create in us new and contrite hearts that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness." The first time my ears were shocked by the change, I figured the change was for good reason. It is altogether too easy to assume that "worthily lamenting our sins" means that our contrition is the good work that makes us worthy.
However, this Sunday's collect clarifies. TLH's Laetare prayer goes, "Grant that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished...." (The LSB collect is altogether different.) On the same Sunday, we pray that we "worthily deserve to be punished" AND that we "worthily lament our sins." When those two are prayed in conjunction with each other, it becomes obvious that "worthily lamenting our sins" means NOT that we have obtained worth in God's eyes because we lamented our sins. Rather it means that we are the type of people who have sins that ought be lamented.
At first I thought the LSB change was a good one, even if it did mess me up every single time I heard it. (Hey, I figured I'd get used to it eventually, given enough years.) But now I'm not so convinced that it was a beneficial change; the old words dove-tailed nicely with the catechism on worthiness.
My ears keep tripping over the new LSB collect for the Lenten season. It says, "Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness." TLH said, "Create in us new and contrite hearts that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness." The first time my ears were shocked by the change, I figured the change was for good reason. It is altogether too easy to assume that "worthily lamenting our sins" means that our contrition is the good work that makes us worthy.
However, this Sunday's collect clarifies. TLH's Laetare prayer goes, "Grant that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished...." (The LSB collect is altogether different.) On the same Sunday, we pray that we "worthily deserve to be punished" AND that we "worthily lament our sins." When those two are prayed in conjunction with each other, it becomes obvious that "worthily lamenting our sins" means NOT that we have obtained worth in God's eyes because we lamented our sins. Rather it means that we are the type of people who have sins that ought be lamented.
At first I thought the LSB change was a good one, even if it did mess me up every single time I heard it. (Hey, I figured I'd get used to it eventually, given enough years.) But now I'm not so convinced that it was a beneficial change; the old words dove-tailed nicely with the catechism on worthiness.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Double Standard
As part of the anti-war protests on Monday, a group of youths vandalized an Army recruiting office in Milwaukee. (There's also information on the report on Charlie Sykes's blog, posted on Tues, 3-20, at 8:05 a.m.) Today Charlie is commenting both on his blog (article entitled "Frustration? Juvenile?" at 9:41 on 3-21) and on his talk-show about the media response. He bemoaned the fact that there's not more outrage being expressed over this vandalism and the hatred being shown toward the soldiers.
I thought about that. And I think the answer to the lack of outrage is because it's what we've come to expect from liberals. No, not all liberals engage in such ugly behavior. In fact, most don't. But we have come to expect lies and cover-ups. We have come to expect cheating from the left. (Just look at what's been going on with voter fraud in Milwaukee!) We have come to expect that the media will slant coverage of stories so that we hear about the heinousness of any conservative group that engages in violence, and yet we hear excuses for liberal groups that engage in violence. When a fringe conservative group commits an evil (such as bombing abortion clinics or Klan-ish activities), conservatives denounce such crimes. When a fringe liberal group commits this kind of evil, the liberal media excuses it as something kinda sorta bad but not with an all-out renunciation of such activity, and certainly not for a call for prosecution of the evil-doers. As a generalization, conservatives hold themselves to a higher standard than do liberals. (Just think of the gun-control liberals who have their own guns and shoot the intruders who break into their houses, and the legislators who enact laws about the cars we drive while they drive big gas-guzzling SUVs themselves.)
Likewise, in the church, my husband has noted that parishioners with a high respect for the Office of the Ministry will often honor a pastor, even if he comes in, ditching the liturgy and wanting to change from the pattern of sound words that have been handed down. Those who do not honor the Office will agitate to get what they want (such as contemporary worship), and will fight a new pastor who may want to restore the hymnal and liturgy to the congregation.
It usually comes down to a matter of fascism and expediency and getting my way, versus a matter of submitting oneself to the orderliness of the law and having respect for those in office. Which basically means that Charlie is right about how sad it is that there's no outrage over the vandalism of the Army recruiting center. But the sad situation is not that people don't care about the vandalism. Rather the sad situation is that we're not surprised by wretched behavior from certain segments of our society, as well that we no longer expect fair reporting from the media.
I thought about that. And I think the answer to the lack of outrage is because it's what we've come to expect from liberals. No, not all liberals engage in such ugly behavior. In fact, most don't. But we have come to expect lies and cover-ups. We have come to expect cheating from the left. (Just look at what's been going on with voter fraud in Milwaukee!) We have come to expect that the media will slant coverage of stories so that we hear about the heinousness of any conservative group that engages in violence, and yet we hear excuses for liberal groups that engage in violence. When a fringe conservative group commits an evil (such as bombing abortion clinics or Klan-ish activities), conservatives denounce such crimes. When a fringe liberal group commits this kind of evil, the liberal media excuses it as something kinda sorta bad but not with an all-out renunciation of such activity, and certainly not for a call for prosecution of the evil-doers. As a generalization, conservatives hold themselves to a higher standard than do liberals. (Just think of the gun-control liberals who have their own guns and shoot the intruders who break into their houses, and the legislators who enact laws about the cars we drive while they drive big gas-guzzling SUVs themselves.)
Likewise, in the church, my husband has noted that parishioners with a high respect for the Office of the Ministry will often honor a pastor, even if he comes in, ditching the liturgy and wanting to change from the pattern of sound words that have been handed down. Those who do not honor the Office will agitate to get what they want (such as contemporary worship), and will fight a new pastor who may want to restore the hymnal and liturgy to the congregation.
It usually comes down to a matter of fascism and expediency and getting my way, versus a matter of submitting oneself to the orderliness of the law and having respect for those in office. Which basically means that Charlie is right about how sad it is that there's no outrage over the vandalism of the Army recruiting center. But the sad situation is not that people don't care about the vandalism. Rather the sad situation is that we're not surprised by wretched behavior from certain segments of our society, as well that we no longer expect fair reporting from the media.
Math
A friend mentioned Homeschool Math Blog which I checked out. It looks like it's got some good advice, some helpful teaching hints, and a lot of nice links. I'm going to set Maggie to some of the games whose links were posted on March 11.
And you might want to check out a few math funnies from students' tests.
And you might want to check out a few math funnies from students' tests.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Shopping Today
Looking for something as exciting as Benedryl and jogging shoes today, we were in Shopko, Walmart, and Kohls. Oh my goodness....
It seems to me that when a shirt or dress or undergarment has its own figure, all by itself on the hanger, it can't be very healthy for a woman's body to wear. But when I saw those undergarments with their own figures in the little girls' department, that was something that made my eyes pop. C'mon, does ANYBODY think that padded training-bras with underwires belong on the shelf right next to the little undies made of cotton prints with kittens and Dora the Explorer? Good grief. What is wrong with us?
It seems to me that when a shirt or dress or undergarment has its own figure, all by itself on the hanger, it can't be very healthy for a woman's body to wear. But when I saw those undergarments with their own figures in the little girls' department, that was something that made my eyes pop. C'mon, does ANYBODY think that padded training-bras with underwires belong on the shelf right next to the little undies made of cotton prints with kittens and Dora the Explorer? Good grief. What is wrong with us?
Psalm Sequence
When the psalm chart came out in Lutheran Service Book (page 304), I tried using it for a few months. However, I found myself missing going through the psalms in consecutive order. When I was praying the psalms straight through, I began to realize that there's something important about the order they're in. Just like Matthew and Acts are inspired by God, and the order of the stories matters, I think it matters in Psalms too.
This is not to say that we can't skip around in the gospels or epistles or prophets ... or psalms. Of course we skip around and read parts here and there. But there's also something precious and edifying to be had by going in order. There are connections from one psalm to the next that we miss out on if we hop around in the psalter.
That said, though, I'm finding the Lenten psalm rotation to be the most satisfying of the appointed seasons.
This is not to say that we can't skip around in the gospels or epistles or prophets ... or psalms. Of course we skip around and read parts here and there. But there's also something precious and edifying to be had by going in order. There are connections from one psalm to the next that we miss out on if we hop around in the psalter.
That said, though, I'm finding the Lenten psalm rotation to be the most satisfying of the appointed seasons.
Monday, March 19, 2007
VCFS and Rhyming
I am quite fully aware that my 12-yr-old with VCFS learns differently than most kids. Unlike my older children, this is not necessarily a good and beneficial sort of "different." But today I realized something that I hadn't noticed before.
We were driving to town, playing a rhyming game. We had come up with several rhymes for pole, and she was a little stymied coming up with another one. She thought bowl might work, but she said it wasn't right because it was spelled with o-w-l instead of o-l-e. So we talked about the sound being the important thing, not the spelling. A little later we ran across another word that she suggested as a rhyme. But it didn't rhyme; the ending was spelled the same. (I can't remember what that one was, but it would've been something like clown and thrown.) When she was smaller, she couldn't figure out rhyming for the life of her! She still struggles with it, not being able to distinguish between similar sounds (b/p or m/n or f/v or various short-vowel sounds). But it's improving. And what I learned today makes me realize that she learns better by what goes into her eyes than by what goes into her ears. Seeing the spelling sure sticks better than does the soundwaves.
This was reinforced a few hours later. She had picked up her "how to be good" books at the library. And they made a difference in how she spent her afternoon! There is a series of books by Joy Berry on how to deal with a wide variety of problems: bullying, stealing, messiness, dawdling, tattling, gossip, etc. These books are written at about a 2nd-grade reading level. My older kids disliked them: the books were too preachy. And boring. But Maggie loves them. She checks them out of the library again and again, working her way through all 40-50 books of the series each time she goes on a jag.
Today she was reading the book about laziness and recognized herself in the pages of the book -- especially the part about asking people to do for you what you are perfectly capable of doing for yourself. There were hints on setting the timer to race the clock on doing a particular chore, or setting the timer to pick up for just 5 minutes or whatever. Maggie read these ideas and set herself to do them. She picked up all sorts of stuff this afternoon that she usually just tosses anywhere. It's not like she hasn't been taught these things. (Been taught them over and over and over!!) But reading it in a book (seeing instead of hearing) and figuring it out for herself (rather than being told by a family member) seemed to make a significant difference in what she did.
Now I just hope it lasts longer than one day!
And I hope that I can figure out ways to use today's discovery when it comes to academics too, and not just life skills.
We were driving to town, playing a rhyming game. We had come up with several rhymes for pole, and she was a little stymied coming up with another one. She thought bowl might work, but she said it wasn't right because it was spelled with o-w-l instead of o-l-e. So we talked about the sound being the important thing, not the spelling. A little later we ran across another word that she suggested as a rhyme. But it didn't rhyme; the ending was spelled the same. (I can't remember what that one was, but it would've been something like clown and thrown.) When she was smaller, she couldn't figure out rhyming for the life of her! She still struggles with it, not being able to distinguish between similar sounds (b/p or m/n or f/v or various short-vowel sounds). But it's improving. And what I learned today makes me realize that she learns better by what goes into her eyes than by what goes into her ears. Seeing the spelling sure sticks better than does the soundwaves.
This was reinforced a few hours later. She had picked up her "how to be good" books at the library. And they made a difference in how she spent her afternoon! There is a series of books by Joy Berry on how to deal with a wide variety of problems: bullying, stealing, messiness, dawdling, tattling, gossip, etc. These books are written at about a 2nd-grade reading level. My older kids disliked them: the books were too preachy. And boring. But Maggie loves them. She checks them out of the library again and again, working her way through all 40-50 books of the series each time she goes on a jag.
Today she was reading the book about laziness and recognized herself in the pages of the book -- especially the part about asking people to do for you what you are perfectly capable of doing for yourself. There were hints on setting the timer to race the clock on doing a particular chore, or setting the timer to pick up for just 5 minutes or whatever. Maggie read these ideas and set herself to do them. She picked up all sorts of stuff this afternoon that she usually just tosses anywhere. It's not like she hasn't been taught these things. (Been taught them over and over and over!!) But reading it in a book (seeing instead of hearing) and figuring it out for herself (rather than being told by a family member) seemed to make a significant difference in what she did.
Now I just hope it lasts longer than one day!
And I hope that I can figure out ways to use today's discovery when it comes to academics too, and not just life skills.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Reprieve!
Because there's no church choir here, I have LOVED being in choir at the three Higher Things conferences I've attended as a chaperone. This year they were planning to have a mandatory choir workshop the day prior to conference. Because I couldn't bring the kids, chaperone them during choir practice, and pay for the extra length of stay, I had sadly resigned myself to the fact that I couldn't be in the choir. But I was just downloading housing registration forms for the conference, and they changed their mind! Yee haw!! I get to sing after all!!! The last time I was in a church choir was so long ago that I only had three children. So being in chapel choir for Higher Things really is a precious treat. Oh boy!
Crying over Onions
I had heard long ago that you were supposed to cut one end off the onion first, but I could never remember which end it was supposed to be. After loads of mistakes, after many a tear, I finally began to figure out that it makes it a lot better to cut off the root end first. (Funny. My "tip book" says to cut the root end off last.) I put a note in the spot where I store my onions, reminding me to slice the root end off before peeling the onion. After a few months of that, I had finally gotten it through my sieve-like skull. Every now and then, with a kid helping me, I end up with one onion where the stem-end was cut before the root-end. And, oooooh, wow, do we end up sobbing over that mistake!
TLH 446
But while watching, also pray
To the Lord unceasing.
He will free thee, be thy Stay,
Strength and faith increasing.
O Lord, bless in distress
And let nothing swerve me
From the will to serve Thee.
Free us? And be our Stay? At the same time?
A stay is a prop, a support. Maybe a fastener on a garment. Maybe the whalebone in a corset. Whatever particular use a "stay" might have, it always boils down to the "stay" being something that keeps something else in place, keeps the other thing sturdy and solid and where it belongs.
So what is this about a stay freeing? If you think about it in our terms, it doesn't make sense. A stay does just the opposite of freeing something, setting it loose. So there's that ol' paradoxical stuff again: there is no real freedom unless we are slaves to Him.
To the Lord unceasing.
He will free thee, be thy Stay,
Strength and faith increasing.
O Lord, bless in distress
And let nothing swerve me
From the will to serve Thee.
Free us? And be our Stay? At the same time?
A stay is a prop, a support. Maybe a fastener on a garment. Maybe the whalebone in a corset. Whatever particular use a "stay" might have, it always boils down to the "stay" being something that keeps something else in place, keeps the other thing sturdy and solid and where it belongs.
So what is this about a stay freeing? If you think about it in our terms, it doesn't make sense. A stay does just the opposite of freeing something, setting it loose. So there's that ol' paradoxical stuff again: there is no real freedom unless we are slaves to Him.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Some Movies
This week we watched Christmas with the Kranks. Now, you don't need to tell me that it's not exactly the right season to be watching a Christmas movie. I'm fully aware of that. But I have this husband-dude who found a Tim Allen movie that looked funny, sitting there on the library shelf, pleading, "Take me home and watch me. I promise to make you laugh." So he did.
It was funny. Not entirely devoid of foul language, but nearly. (Okay, Mom?) I found it amusing to see the peer pressure and societal reactions toward the family who decided not to "do" Christmas. For societal misfits like us, it was enjoyable. Another thing neat to see was how the neighborhood could all come together with love and graciousness toward the misfits when they needed the help, due to a change in plans. Just a real nice, fun, wholesome movie. Even if it's not Christmas. I had to laugh, though, at the way the techies arranged the fake-snow piles on the lawns. The techies never lived where they had to shovel much snow or observe drifts or watch piles melt!
Last night, I was teaching Gary how to fill out a 1040. He wanted to watch Invincible, a story about Vince Papale who joined a losing football team during open try-outs and brought back some spirit and life to the team and to Philadelphia. Whenever I had to run to the computer to download another set of tax forms+instructions, he'd grab another 10 minutes of the movie. So I didn't see the whole first half, but I did watch all the second half. It appears to be a new movie: the date on the DVD says 2006. But it's got an "old" feel to the coloring and the way it's done. The true story the movie was based on was from the mid-70s. It was fun to see people in a movie need a phone booth to make a call, or crank up the car window with the handle. (We just recently gave up on our rotary-dial phone, and we still have a car with non-electric windows.) Somebody said this was a formulaic movie. I suppose it is. But it's decent enough for kids to see, and it's a feel-good movie with a sports theme. We really liked it.
Tonight, we will be working on the state tax forms -- another lesson for the guy who never does those sort of accounting things. Maggie turned on Ice Princess. When we watched this once-upon-a-time, I loved it because it was about a mathematician. The girl in the story decided to do a science project on the physics of ice-skating. She studied the math and science behind it, and then proceeded to learn to skate, using the physics. The movie was good in showing the pettiness of some of the competitors. It had a nice "homeschool" touch (even though it was set in a school) in that the main character didn't start skating at a ridiculously young age, but waited until later and then learned much more quickly than the others had. Another nice decent happy feel-good movie. We batted 1000 for our choices during our Too Much TV Week.
It was funny. Not entirely devoid of foul language, but nearly. (Okay, Mom?) I found it amusing to see the peer pressure and societal reactions toward the family who decided not to "do" Christmas. For societal misfits like us, it was enjoyable. Another thing neat to see was how the neighborhood could all come together with love and graciousness toward the misfits when they needed the help, due to a change in plans. Just a real nice, fun, wholesome movie. Even if it's not Christmas. I had to laugh, though, at the way the techies arranged the fake-snow piles on the lawns. The techies never lived where they had to shovel much snow or observe drifts or watch piles melt!
Last night, I was teaching Gary how to fill out a 1040. He wanted to watch Invincible, a story about Vince Papale who joined a losing football team during open try-outs and brought back some spirit and life to the team and to Philadelphia. Whenever I had to run to the computer to download another set of tax forms+instructions, he'd grab another 10 minutes of the movie. So I didn't see the whole first half, but I did watch all the second half. It appears to be a new movie: the date on the DVD says 2006. But it's got an "old" feel to the coloring and the way it's done. The true story the movie was based on was from the mid-70s. It was fun to see people in a movie need a phone booth to make a call, or crank up the car window with the handle. (We just recently gave up on our rotary-dial phone, and we still have a car with non-electric windows.) Somebody said this was a formulaic movie. I suppose it is. But it's decent enough for kids to see, and it's a feel-good movie with a sports theme. We really liked it.
Tonight, we will be working on the state tax forms -- another lesson for the guy who never does those sort of accounting things. Maggie turned on Ice Princess. When we watched this once-upon-a-time, I loved it because it was about a mathematician. The girl in the story decided to do a science project on the physics of ice-skating. She studied the math and science behind it, and then proceeded to learn to skate, using the physics. The movie was good in showing the pettiness of some of the competitors. It had a nice "homeschool" touch (even though it was set in a school) in that the main character didn't start skating at a ridiculously young age, but waited until later and then learned much more quickly than the others had. Another nice decent happy feel-good movie. We batted 1000 for our choices during our Too Much TV Week.
Eggplant in Lasagna
Julee had mentioned a long time ago about using eggplant slices instead of noodles in lasagna. I tried it a couple of weeks ago, and it worked really well. The lasagna is free of refined white-flour noodles. And it's much quicker and easier to slice the squash than it is to boil the noodles. And best of all, it tasted just the same.
I tried it again on Friday, and it didn't work as well. The difference was that this time I sliced the eggplant lengthwise. It seemed to change the texture of the finished lasagna: it was stringier, and hard to cut with the fork. I noticed too that it was harder to slice the eggplant very very thin, as skinny as noodles, when I was slicing the long way. This left us with some bites of lasagna that were noticeably eggplanty, instead of being nearly identical to regular lasagna.
The only problem with slicing crosswise is that you have to piece together more round slices than if you use the bigger lengthwise slices. But I think we can handle that small inconvenience.
I tried it again on Friday, and it didn't work as well. The difference was that this time I sliced the eggplant lengthwise. It seemed to change the texture of the finished lasagna: it was stringier, and hard to cut with the fork. I noticed too that it was harder to slice the eggplant very very thin, as skinny as noodles, when I was slicing the long way. This left us with some bites of lasagna that were noticeably eggplanty, instead of being nearly identical to regular lasagna.
The only problem with slicing crosswise is that you have to piece together more round slices than if you use the bigger lengthwise slices. But I think we can handle that small inconvenience.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Elvet Banks
When I saw that the new hymnal had an alternative tune to To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord (LSB 407) and May God Bestow on Us His Grace (LSB 824), I wasn't happy. After all, those texts have been attached to their old tunes for quite a while now. Why neglect a perfectly decent 500-year old melody and go off in our own direction? There's something just plain nice about singing the same words (albeit in a different language) to the same tune that other Christians have been using for centuries and centuries! So I was all set to dislike the melody "Elvet Banks" which is brand spankin' new.
Dang it. I like it in spite of myself.
I hear that it's supposedly an easier tune than the originals for those two Luther hymns. I'm skeptical. I don't think it's any easier. But neither is it harder.
I must confess, though, that there is one small glitch to the tune when it's used for the Baptism song. The tune just seems altogether too chipper for the sixth stanza: "But woe to those who cast aside this grace so freely given...." The incongruity between the tune and the text gets even stronger at the end of the stanza. But other than that, I'm afraid I really like this particular tune.
Dang it. I like it in spite of myself.
I hear that it's supposedly an easier tune than the originals for those two Luther hymns. I'm skeptical. I don't think it's any easier. But neither is it harder.
I must confess, though, that there is one small glitch to the tune when it's used for the Baptism song. The tune just seems altogether too chipper for the sixth stanza: "But woe to those who cast aside this grace so freely given...." The incongruity between the tune and the text gets even stronger at the end of the stanza. But other than that, I'm afraid I really like this particular tune.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Global Warming
On You Tube, there's a video called The Great Global Warming Swindle. Thanks to Lu and Julee for pointing it out. It's 75 minutes, so I haven't found time to watch the whole thing yet, but it certainly is a start on "equal time" in opposition to the prevailing politically-correct beliefs about global warming.
Crowns
A week or so after our dental appointments last fall, the corner of one of my molars broke off while we were attending a homeschool outing. I intended to call the dentist when we got home, but it was too late in the day by the time we returned home. I didn't get around to calling the next day. By the third day, I was beginning to realize that it seemed kind of silly to call the dentist when there was no pain. I figured I'd just wait until the next regular check-up.
The dentist tells me I need a crown. I don't know whether to believe him. Our dentist back in St Louis had mentioned once that my husband had a cavity, but it was small enough not to need a filling. The dentist said it would probably heal itself. Heal itself??? We'd never heard of such a thing. But it did. Our current dentist told my husband several visits ago that he had a small cavity that needed to be filled. Gary has put it off, and it too appears to have healed itself. Web-surfing, I found an article from Prevention Magazine on teeth healing on their own from cavities. Another article (relying heavily on Weston Price Foundation information) advocates scrupulous attention to nutrition as a way to achieve dental health, even healing cavities.
When asked why I need this expensive crown that would be painful, the dentist's response is that I might get a cavity in the broken tooth, and it might get deep enough to cause a toothache prior to my next dental visit. I've never had a toothache, and I've heard they're worse than I can imagine. So I don't know that I want to risk decay in a place where the nerves are already so close to the surface of the tooth.
This website discusses alternatives to crowns. And this one mentions some problems that arise, including the possibility of an abcess, the likelihood that the crown will need to be replaced about once a decade, and the likelihood that the tooth will end up needing a root canal.
I'm not sure what to think. I fear that the dentist wants to just "follow standard procedure" whether that is the best or not. I fear that his motivation is more about income for his dental practice than concern for my dental health. But what if he's right and I end up with a misery-inducing toothache? And yet, it seems pretty drastic to grind most of my tooth into oblivion now because I might later get a cavity that turns into a toothache at an inconvenient time.
The dentist tells me I need a crown. I don't know whether to believe him. Our dentist back in St Louis had mentioned once that my husband had a cavity, but it was small enough not to need a filling. The dentist said it would probably heal itself. Heal itself??? We'd never heard of such a thing. But it did. Our current dentist told my husband several visits ago that he had a small cavity that needed to be filled. Gary has put it off, and it too appears to have healed itself. Web-surfing, I found an article from Prevention Magazine on teeth healing on their own from cavities. Another article (relying heavily on Weston Price Foundation information) advocates scrupulous attention to nutrition as a way to achieve dental health, even healing cavities.
When asked why I need this expensive crown that would be painful, the dentist's response is that I might get a cavity in the broken tooth, and it might get deep enough to cause a toothache prior to my next dental visit. I've never had a toothache, and I've heard they're worse than I can imagine. So I don't know that I want to risk decay in a place where the nerves are already so close to the surface of the tooth.
This website discusses alternatives to crowns. And this one mentions some problems that arise, including the possibility of an abcess, the likelihood that the crown will need to be replaced about once a decade, and the likelihood that the tooth will end up needing a root canal.
I'm not sure what to think. I fear that the dentist wants to just "follow standard procedure" whether that is the best or not. I fear that his motivation is more about income for his dental practice than concern for my dental health. But what if he's right and I end up with a misery-inducing toothache? And yet, it seems pretty drastic to grind most of my tooth into oblivion now because I might later get a cavity that turns into a toothache at an inconvenient time.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Cyberspace
I was interested in Pastor Cwirla's blog post from early last week on "avatars." (Whatever they are! Something to do with internet communication. Try telling that to an inept techno-dunderhead like me.) The part of his article that interested me most was about being with people in the real world as opposed to interacting in cyberspace. One paragraph begins, In my opinion, it isn’t terribly healthy for human beings who are made by God for communion to spend inordinate amounts of time engaging in compulsive, raw communication in a virtual world. In some cases, it can be psychologically debilitating.
This fits with my opinions about television. Addicted to it though I may be, my reasonable brain says television is not a good thing, as discussed in Marie Winn's book The Plug-In Drug. We've struggled back and forth with tv, banning it, allowing it, banning it again, trying to control it, then back to admitting our failures and attempting (with varying degrees of success) to harness our addiction to achieve a little bit of something good.
The computer games seem even more addictive. So are email lists and forums and blogging and a variety of other ways to spend time on the Internet. So we pendulum back and forth, trying to find a comfortable middle spot of allowing such things without being consumed by our lack of self-control over them.
So tonight, as we're talking in the half-hour between "American Idol" and "Lost" [TV shows, doncha know?], I realize that five people are sitting in the living room with THREE computers lined up in the space of a few feet. And munchkin is using a cell phone to call the kitchen, a whopping 10 feet away. I probably should cry, but instead it just made me laugh!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
4 Hours = 1 Day
Several years back, I discovered that any project that takes four hours is an "all day" project. Now you may have learned in your elementary-school math classes that there are 24 hours in a day. And you may think that 24 hours is significantly more than 4 hours. If you think that, you would be wrong. Or uninformed. OR you would be invited to use your free time to come clean floors and do errands for me. Because for a frugal homeschooling mom of several children, a 4-hour project definitely sucks up the whole day!
(Do you know that there are people who think there's nothing to do at home all day? I hear tell that there are women who think they'd be bored and have nothing to do if they stayed home with their children instead of going to a place where they are paid to work. Those are clueless women. If they need a clue, they could come play Cinderella at my house for a week or so. No, wait. I take that back. If I told such a person to go scrub a floor or bake some bread or stew a chicken or mend a sweater, that person would make such a mess of the job that it would take me longer to fix it than to have done it right in the first place myself.)
Last week I had a board meeting for the state homeschool group and was gone for 11 hours that day. An 11-hour project counts as nearly 3 days. Another day last week I was away for 11 hours, mostly working on editing projects. That's another 3 days. Wednesday was my job and church, which kept me gone for most of the day. But because I was in and out, with the chance to cook and change a load of laundry and tell children to pick up their stuff, Wednesday only counted as 1 day. Friday was dentist appointments. Two hours there equals another half-day. And then we were gone for the weekend. Because I was already so behind, and because I was leaving competent adults at home to fend for themselves, the two days did NOT count as six days out of commission (like I would normally expect), but only as three -- a half-day to prep, two days gone, and a half-day to get back to Operating Mode. So in the space of six days, I used up "eleven days" of time. No wonder I'm so out of sync.
I remember my mom telling me, back when I was a mom of toddlers, that Mom could only have one thing per day on the calendar, preferably less than that. But at that point my grandma could have only one thing per week on her calendar without getting overwhelmed. I'm beginning to learn that lesson. I'm beginning to realize that I have to watch what goes onto the calendar, realizing that two 11-hour days is going to take all my free time for a whole week. It makes me feel old. I'm beginning to learn to control what I schedule for our week. What really messes me up, though, is when other people schedule things for me (dentist appts, cardiology appts, my boss needing something done right away, etc). Next job is going to be learning to say no to the boss or to the medical receptionist.
This explains why we don't have any pictures yet from Katie and Nathan's wedding last summer. That job will take nearly a week when I get to it.
This explains why the taxes are not done yet. Although I've already done a lot of the work, it'll take nearly a week (several 4-hour stints).
This explains why I hate to let the insurance salesman come by for "just an hour." It's never just an hour, but 2 or 3. Which gets to taking nigh onto the "whole day."
This explains why fieldtrips with the homeschool group are so tremendously time-consuming. An outing that takes from 9:00 to 4:00 consumes two days, not half of one.
I'm tired.
(Do you know that there are people who think there's nothing to do at home all day? I hear tell that there are women who think they'd be bored and have nothing to do if they stayed home with their children instead of going to a place where they are paid to work. Those are clueless women. If they need a clue, they could come play Cinderella at my house for a week or so. No, wait. I take that back. If I told such a person to go scrub a floor or bake some bread or stew a chicken or mend a sweater, that person would make such a mess of the job that it would take me longer to fix it than to have done it right in the first place myself.)
Last week I had a board meeting for the state homeschool group and was gone for 11 hours that day. An 11-hour project counts as nearly 3 days. Another day last week I was away for 11 hours, mostly working on editing projects. That's another 3 days. Wednesday was my job and church, which kept me gone for most of the day. But because I was in and out, with the chance to cook and change a load of laundry and tell children to pick up their stuff, Wednesday only counted as 1 day. Friday was dentist appointments. Two hours there equals another half-day. And then we were gone for the weekend. Because I was already so behind, and because I was leaving competent adults at home to fend for themselves, the two days did NOT count as six days out of commission (like I would normally expect), but only as three -- a half-day to prep, two days gone, and a half-day to get back to Operating Mode. So in the space of six days, I used up "eleven days" of time. No wonder I'm so out of sync.
I remember my mom telling me, back when I was a mom of toddlers, that Mom could only have one thing per day on the calendar, preferably less than that. But at that point my grandma could have only one thing per week on her calendar without getting overwhelmed. I'm beginning to learn that lesson. I'm beginning to realize that I have to watch what goes onto the calendar, realizing that two 11-hour days is going to take all my free time for a whole week. It makes me feel old. I'm beginning to learn to control what I schedule for our week. What really messes me up, though, is when other people schedule things for me (dentist appts, cardiology appts, my boss needing something done right away, etc). Next job is going to be learning to say no to the boss or to the medical receptionist.
This explains why we don't have any pictures yet from Katie and Nathan's wedding last summer. That job will take nearly a week when I get to it.
This explains why the taxes are not done yet. Although I've already done a lot of the work, it'll take nearly a week (several 4-hour stints).
This explains why I hate to let the insurance salesman come by for "just an hour." It's never just an hour, but 2 or 3. Which gets to taking nigh onto the "whole day."
This explains why fieldtrips with the homeschool group are so tremendously time-consuming. An outing that takes from 9:00 to 4:00 consumes two days, not half of one.
I'm tired.
A House Someday
There was discussion about the housing market at the dinner table. Daddy makes a comment that there is no way Mommy & Daddy will ever be able to afford a house, should disability shove us into retirement rather than "dying with our boots on." Daddy mentions Mrs Benke from his first congregation. She and the siblings all went together to buy Mom & Dad a home after Dad retired and moved out of the parsonage. When the home was no longer needed, the kids sold it. Daddy mentions that our kids will have to buy us a house if we should ever need one.
Twelve-yr-old responds, "WHAT??? I can't buy you a house! I'm saving my money for a radio."
Laughter ensues.
"I mean, a good one. A radio that plays CDs and tapes. I can't buy you a house!"
And so goes the communication around this place.....
Twelve-yr-old responds, "WHAT??? I can't buy you a house! I'm saving my money for a radio."
Laughter ensues.
"I mean, a good one. A radio that plays CDs and tapes. I can't buy you a house!"
And so goes the communication around this place.....
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