tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-136934942011-04-21T19:19:36.336-07:00Yet Another Mommy BlogWriting about education, parenting, insurance, politics, religion, homeschooling, cooking, farming, simple living, and life.YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comBlogger531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1156129853425923332006-08-20T20:10:00.000-07:002006-08-20T20:10:53.456-07:00This Is My Life, RatedLife: 6.9Mind: 6.3Body: 7.5Spirit: 6.8Friends/Family: 6.3Love: 7.3Finance: 5.1Take the Rate My Life QuizYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1127240255898356852005-09-20T11:16:00.000-07:002005-09-20T11:34:03.390-07:00A bunch of random, interesting blog stuff from the past weekParaphrases only, and no links, you can look ‘em up.Oil is like a girlfriend—you should leave her before she leaves you. KosOctober—the season of hurricanes should be ended, the season of stock market crashes beginning. James Kunstler (don’t read his blog if you already have trouble sleeping at night)You can’t govern if you don’t believeYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1126036374419764272005-09-06T14:51:00.000-07:002005-09-06T12:52:54.426-07:00AgingHow you know you’re getting old—when you become older than favorite media characters, who seemed so mature when you first encountered and enjoyed them. Examples for me:The Philadelphia Story. Cary Grant has always been, and will always be, a grown-up to me. But Jimmy Steward and Katherine Hepburn will never age in my mind from how I found them in this movie. There’s even one or two places YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1125601162895128472005-09-02T10:58:00.000-07:002005-09-01T11:59:22.896-07:00I hear dead peopleWas it just a coincidence that the 70s station today played tunes by these individuals/groups, right in a row?Harry ChapinJim CroceThe CarpentersThe BeatlesThe Grateful DeadThen I got out of the car.I missed any possible preceding commentary, so I don’t know if they were doing a tribute to dead artists, or if it’s just inevitable that so many musicians of 30 years ago will now YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1125600969210361692005-09-01T13:53:00.000-07:002005-09-01T11:56:09.213-07:00September 1 = First Day of School (sort of)In Wisconsin, it’s THE LAW that public schools can’t start until September 1, passed by a Republican legislature and signed by a Republican governor after lobbying by a northwoods tourism industry that wanted workers and visitors to be available throughout all of August. So much for the vaunted “local control” that Republicans are supposed to support.ForYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1125600796844093162005-08-31T11:48:00.000-07:002005-09-01T11:53:16.850-07:00HomeschoolingMany homeschoolers do so for strongly religious reasons, and/or because they hate public schools. We incorporated no religious study, and I’m a supporter of public schools.So “normal” families don’t understand us because we homeschool, and homeschoolers don’t understand us because we’re secular.The arguments people give against homeschooling I pretty much don’t have the inclination YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1125428264163084582005-08-30T00:55:00.000-07:002005-08-30T11:57:44.186-07:00Well, that wasn’t so bad. Maybe.From today’s New York Times: “Dire predictions of 20-foot-deep toxic rivers running in the streets and huge buildings coming apart did not materialize.” Some of last weekend’s forecasts sounded extremely dire, but if they were more than likely to occur, got people’s attention, and made more families evacuate than otherwise would have, then they were necessary.The YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1125338662538516472005-08-29T13:02:00.000-07:002005-09-01T11:26:59.010-07:00DialogueMe: I need to pay for a lost library book.Librarian: Are you sure you won’t find it?Me: Actually, I’m pretty sure it’ll turn up tomorrow, now that I've confessed that I lost it.YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1125322772463689652005-08-29T08:37:00.000-07:002005-08-29T06:39:32.470-07:00Hurricane!Last night I couldn’t stop reading the Katrina updates. It was addictive for D, too; he was on one computer checking different satellite and radar views, while I was on the laptop reading blogs and disaster projections.Some were writing with almost glee at the possible scope of the disaster for New Orleans—city destroyed, a hundred thousand dead, evacuees having no home to return to, YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1124988262922842302005-08-26T14:41:00.000-07:002005-08-25T09:44:22.923-07:00MachinesA lot has been written about different kinds of intelligences. As in, we ought to value people who aren’t necessarily “word smart” and “math smart” and perform well on standardized tests. There’s high emotional IQ, which lets you get along well with others; musical smarts; mechanical ability; etc.Well, having been one of those students who did do well on standardized tests in school, I YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1124988061183346072005-08-25T11:15:00.000-07:002005-08-25T09:41:01.186-07:00Tomatoes, tomatoesFinally the tomatoes are ripe. Before we were farming and trying to grow vegetables for money, I had a large garden; but everything else was just filler until the tomatoes were ripe.This year, we planted hundreds of tomatoes—partly by design, partly because we started some in flats to sell as plants, sales of which didn’t really materialize, probably (probably!) because we didn’YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1124981838091453642005-08-25T07:56:00.000-07:002005-08-25T07:57:18.100-07:00Yeah, right!Yesterday's business section headline: "Bankers say no housing bubble."Tomorrow's: "Foxes say chicken house security adequate."YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1124987740100177652005-08-24T09:33:00.000-07:002005-08-25T09:35:40.106-07:00What’s in a name?I recently took a different route home, and saw in the middle of a beautiful piece of farmland a sign: Pleasure Valley Preserve. Well. It wasn’t in a valley; apparently the farm is NOT going to be preserved; and the pleasure will likely all belong to the developer. Where does it stop?“Berry Fields” read one sign near us when we first moved to our farm. I foolishly thought it was YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1124112563898827042005-08-14T15:02:00.000-07:002005-08-15T06:29:23.900-07:00BaptismWe had a baptism today at church. Afterwards I remarked to the mom of the baby that she had been so good; the mom replied, “She had no idea what was going on.”I guess the appropriate response to that is, of course not, none of us really do.My denomination believes in baptizing infants, the sooner to receive God’s grace.Grace, not the same as protection.It’s easy to cross the line from YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1124112323882075942005-08-13T18:24:00.000-07:002005-08-15T06:25:23.886-07:00What's that?Lesson from today's farmers' market:The only people who want okra, are the people who really want okra.YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123782860968495112005-08-11T12:48:00.000-07:002005-08-11T10:54:20.976-07:00Money, moneyAmericans save $.40 of every $100 of disposable income, according to this (for the mathematically illiterate among you, that’s forty CENTS—please note the decimal). According to the economics professor I listened to on public radio this week, the savings rate of Americans is zero. Others place it in negative territory.We’re told that Americans are treating their houses like giant ATMsYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123782725637342182005-08-11T10:48:00.000-07:002005-08-11T10:52:05.646-07:00Money, moneyAmericans save $.40 of every $100 of disposable income, according to this (for the mathematically illiterate among you, that’s forty CENTS—please note the decimal). According to the economics professor I listened to on public radio this week, the savings rate of Americans is zero. Others place it in negative territory.We’re told that Americans are treating their houses like giant ATMsYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123683474823597372005-08-10T09:15:00.000-07:002005-08-10T07:17:54.823-07:00Beans, etc.The beans are ripe, and they are a pain. If you didn’t pick beans yesterday, you’d better be picking them today. Actually, that’s not even enough—it should be every 36 hours. If you picked Monday night, you need to pick again Wednesday morning. Even then, there will be plenty of overripe ones that need to get tossed. And the overripes still need to get taken off the vine. If you don’t YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123683302605141082005-08-10T09:13:00.000-07:002005-08-10T07:15:02.616-07:00SubmissionI spent a LONG time on the phone last night with a friend who tends to talk a lot, at least on the phone; she’s pretty starved for adult conversation, and her husband was working late that night. When our girls were both 5, The Boy was 2, she had a newborn, and we were both 100% SAHMs, if I called her at 4:00 p.m. to check about car pool arrangements for Brownies, it was guaranteed thatYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123614289909612352005-08-09T14:03:00.000-07:002005-08-09T12:04:49.916-07:00CatsHeard on the ask-a-vet call in show on public radio:Caller: My cat wakes me up every morning at 4:00 or 5:00. Why does he do this/how can I make him stop?My answer: Because he is a cat and therefore evil. The only way to make him stop, and then only temporarily, is to violently throw him out of the bed. After a week, though, he’ll forget, and return. Cats are dumb as well as evil.*Real vet’s YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123592558074360602005-08-09T07:59:00.000-07:002005-08-09T06:02:38.083-07:00Bowling for SoupI’m not an album person; my musical tastes are extremely superficial. But last spring when “1985” was getting a lot of airplay, D bought the album, A Hangover You Don’t Deserve, and I listened to it enough times through to really get it. It’s got an interesting pattern of songs, with “1985” actually being the oddball track.First is “Almost,” a song that’s also gotten some top-40 YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123510940612008122005-08-08T09:20:00.000-07:002005-08-08T07:22:20.620-07:00The FairLast week the county fair was held. The kids were involved with some 4-H projects (no animal stuff, however), and Friday I took them down for a day of rides. I bought a fistful of ride tickets before I realized how discounted the rides were in the early afternoon, so they got to go on tons of stuff, including the Tilt-A-Whirl with me a couple times. The Girl is at that awkward age where YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123166494016934212005-08-04T09:39:00.000-07:002005-08-04T07:41:34.020-07:00Big LotsLast weekend D and I had a date, and as we often do on dates, we visited both Fleet Farm (motto: “if you can’t get it at Fleet Farm you don’t need it”) and Big Lots (motto should be: “you don’t need it but it’s cheap”). We only go to Big Lots because it’s near the movie theatre and it’s a good place to kill time. Besides, like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get.Don’t get YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1123164921251845292005-08-04T09:04:00.000-07:002005-08-04T07:15:21.256-07:00Hot DogI am not a dog person, but last fall we got a puppy, whom we named Kiva. D grew up near a small town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula named Kiva, and I thought that would make a unique name for a child. That is, I thought so until 1) my dad, who has an unusual German name, went off on a tirade about how wrong it is to give a kid a name that no one can spell or pronounce, and 2) a friend from YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1122988685092024822005-08-02T08:16:00.000-07:002005-08-02T06:18:05.100-07:00RemodelingI have a grand plan to remodel my ancient kitchen. Fortunately, I have a great deal of space to work with, and don’t need to expand into other rooms or beyond the current house boundaries. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten bids from three contractors, all within the same range, and I can’t justify spending that much money on my house. I’ve contemplated possible ways to scale back the project, YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1122917094271355792005-08-01T12:21:00.000-07:002005-08-01T10:24:54.276-07:00Decision, decisionsThe best decisions I ever made:1. Deciding to marry D. when we found out I was pregnant with The Girl.2. Having The Boy.3. Buying the farm where we live now.4. Jumping off the career ladder for a while (ok, I was pushed, but I CHOSE not to climb right back on).5. De-emphasizing TV.6. Committing to carrying as little debt as possible.7. Desiring a good, ongoing relationship withYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1122412302244072062005-07-27T08:01:00.000-07:002005-08-01T13:13:15.500-07:00FriendsI recently went out with some other moms for, well, a moms-night-out type of thing. Just dinner, drinks, and conversation. The five of us live in the same area, and all have daughters the same age; no one works full time.It’s supposed to be rejuvenating—getting out of the house, connecting with others, taking a break from the family, right? So why did I come home depressed?First, the YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1122391996111889412005-07-26T10:32:00.000-07:002005-07-26T08:33:16.116-07:00VegetablesWe grow vegetables, and so we eat vegetables. I certainly eat more of them than I have at any other time in my life, and even the kids are pretty good at it. D will eat pretty much anything—his rules are that it should be 1) peeled and 2) cooked thoroughly (both of which I admit to having problems complying with at times).The kids eat broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beans, peas, bok YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121705404117133482005-07-18T11:43:00.000-07:002005-07-18T09:50:04.126-07:00Ok, finished!We had two copies to share among three readers. The Girl finished early Sunday afternoon, The Boy finished Sunday after supper (I believe he read it all, although he may have skipped portions), and I finished after they both went to bed. Now The Girl is re-reading it, to savor it and study it, rather than just find out what happens.You end with a sense of disappointment, because we’YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121533954642438162005-07-16T00:10:00.000-07:002005-07-16T10:12:34.646-07:00PotterCan't blog. Must read. Three readers are sharing one book. Hope second copy will arrive soon in mail.YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121361662051980692005-07-14T12:19:00.000-07:002005-07-14T10:21:02.053-07:00UnfaithfulA few years ago a friend and I saw the movie “Unfaithful,” starring Diane Lane as a woman who cheats on her husband (Richard Gere). Afterwards my friend got all sanctimonious about the Lane character: “She had a perfect life! Why would she cheat? I would NEVER cheat on S.”Well, I like to believe I’d never cheat on D., but I thought the point of the movie was that exactly: even given a YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121361550729281092005-07-14T12:12:00.000-07:002005-07-14T10:19:10.736-07:00That’s crazy talkThe Boy (during some movie): What does psychotic mean?Me: You can't tell what's real from what's your imagination.The Girl: I thought that's what schizophrenia is.YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121261056748048292005-07-13T08:11:00.000-07:002005-07-13T06:24:16.756-07:00DragonsI've been reading Michael O'Brien's A Landscape with Dragons because it was recommended on a homeschool list; it contains a lengthy list of books that the author considers OK for kids to read. We own many of them, and have read some. Generally, they are very wholesome stories, probably nothing written within the last 30 years.His thesis is that if an author portrays dragons (and snakes) asYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121177296596283852005-07-12T09:03:00.000-07:002005-07-12T07:08:16.606-07:00TVWe don’t watch TV. We do own one—a single 19 year old set.When The Girl was born, and we lived in The City, D and I would come home every night from our power jobs, pick her up from day care, and eat supper on the couch while watching “The Simpsons.” This went on till she was 2 ½, right about the time I realized that she really ought NOT be modeling the antics of Bart and Lisa. (We didn’t even YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121113213507870952005-07-11T15:17:00.000-07:002005-07-11T13:20:13.513-07:00LinksThe funniest thing I read this weekend: . . . there has never been a discussion that David Brooks hasn't felt he could add something intelligent to, even when he walks in stone-cold ignorant of all facts pertaining to the matter.after Brooks said he didn’t have enough facts to have formed an opinion about Intelligent Design.YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121110466160849652005-07-11T14:31:00.000-07:002005-07-11T12:34:26.166-07:00ComicsThe kids, especially the boy, have been getting cartoon anthologies from the library, mostly Calvin & Hobbes.It’s better when cartoonists hang it up when they’re done with the strip, rather than dragging an idea on for too many years (paging Mary Worth), or aging their characters (Lynn Johnston has managed this somewhat successfully in “For Better or Worse.”) Can you imagine if Bill YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121093929519544232005-07-11T09:56:00.000-07:002005-07-11T12:38:30.656-07:00PreservingSo far this year I have frozen strawberries (from the pick-your-own nearby farm, not ours), frozen broccoli, and canned pickles. Normally I freeze (corn, beans, basil, parsley), can (pickles, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice, applesauce, pickle beans), and dehydrate (tomatoes, jerky, onions). Carrots, onions, potatoes, cabbage, and squash will keep “as is” a long time in a YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1121091131267525452005-07-11T09:07:00.000-07:002005-07-11T07:12:11.276-07:00HygieneWhy is it so easy to blog during the week (when I’m at the real job), but so hard to blog on weekends (because that’s when I’m really working, or exhausted from it)?Friday morning was spent taking the kids to the library in Big City. They’ve been curious about it for a while, and it’s in an old, impressive building, so we made the trek there. A library card for non-residents is $60 YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1120591826254212502005-07-05T14:27:00.000-07:002005-07-05T12:30:26.260-07:00Let slip the dogs . . .While biking with the boy this weekend, one of the neighbors’ (three) rottweilers came running out to the road and made him spill over. She then retreated to her yard; I still consider it an attack. The boy was wearing a helmet, but scraped up his knees, elbow, and face.Later, after he described the event for the girl:The girl: “Did you go to their house and yell at them?”YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1120575579510212572005-07-05T09:57:00.000-07:002005-07-05T07:59:39.516-07:00GrammarI’m jarred (although I suppose I no longer should be) when people who ought to know better improperly use the pronoun “I.” As in, “He gave it to my wife and I.” Our school superintendent does this. My kids’ kindergarten teacher uses this construction as well.Some supposedly educated people apparently feel as though they should never use the word “me.” If you can’t be bothered to remember YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1120157104125762152005-06-30T12:33:00.000-07:002005-06-30T11:45:04.133-07:00GardeningWednesdays are usually a day at home for me, so yesterday I spent hours weeding. D likes tools and machinery for weeding, and while I agree that they have their place, for getting close to the plants you have to do it by hand. I made the kids do it for about an hour, but for the most part, it was hot, solitary work, and I ache today from the exertion.We have been studying the weed book YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119986126724538722005-06-28T14:11:00.000-07:002005-06-28T12:15:26.733-07:00Bong-wielding man threatens dispatcherOk, the headline is funny enough. How does one do this, exactly? "I'm gonna make you take a drag from this thing?"Then you read the article and see that the guy threw a glass bong at the dispatcher who was behind bulletproof glass. What a surprise: "The bong shattered, but the window did not.""The motive for Friday's attack was unclear." Well, I could suggestYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119981601679269642005-06-28T12:58:00.000-07:002005-06-28T11:00:01.683-07:00XM RadioI love my satellite radio. I spend about six hours a week in the car commuting (not bad, I know). I can’t stand the commercials on normal radio, and the DJs during morning drive time are worse, giggling hysterically at their own (not very funny) jokes.Why did it take so long to come up with a way to deliver non-commerical radio? I’m on a budget, but willing to pay $10 a month to avoid YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119902918395766722005-06-27T15:06:00.000-07:002005-06-30T11:48:50.450-07:00StuffWhile shopping with my sister this weekend, I bought a disposable camera for the boy, because he’d wanted to bring a camera to Iowa and we (mom) forgot. My sister said, “It’s nice that you didn’t also have to buy something for the girl.” Stuff like that never occurs to me—they both sometimes get stuff, and sometimes don’t. Pity the parents who have to keep things exactly balanced at all YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119897946489672552005-06-27T13:41:00.000-07:002005-06-27T11:45:46.496-07:00LeisureD. and I do not have a weekend marriage. This is so sad—high income couples with children, missing what money can’t buy—time, and time with each other. This is why I work part time. This is why D. works at home. (This is why we don’t make a lot of money.) We are able to spend time in our home—what the article doesn’t mention is families who spend all their income on a trophy home where YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119882099197479422005-06-27T09:19:00.000-07:002005-06-27T07:21:39.203-07:00All relativeSpent time this weekend trekking to Iowa for a family reunion. Left D. home to ostensibly work on the farm, but actually to avoid going to a 1) hot place to 2) make small talk with 3) people he doesn’t really know—three things he can live happily without. Some families reunion in exotic spots—they travel to Las Vegas, or a theme park, or a resort, and travel about in packs with YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119541823752249832005-06-23T10:39:00.000-07:002005-07-11T12:42:22.960-07:00BloggageWell, I have a hundred (profound, insightful, erudite) posts in my head, but committing them to . . . electrons . . . is something else instead. Discipline. Read other blogs for ideas and information, but commit to writing down my own thoughts.Sunday the kids went to a neighbor’s house for swimming, while I got to spend quality time with my husband planting and weeding. Our vegetable farmYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119546934833127682005-06-23T00:12:00.000-07:002005-06-23T10:15:34.836-07:00Well, she oughta knowPeggy Noonan (on Ed Klein's book):The book is poorly written, poorly thought, poorly sourced and full of the kind of loaded language that is appropriate to a polemic but not an investigative work.http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119127203107579682005-06-18T15:40:00.000-07:002005-06-18T13:40:03.113-07:00BooksThere's a game of blog tag going around: what childhood books did you enjoy enough to re-read as an adult? Well, nobody knows me/will tag me, so I'll do it myself.The girl is a super reader. Has been since she was not-quite-5. One of the benefits of that is I get to re-read some of my favorites, and share them with her. (However, there did come a point about age 8 when I had to tell her thatYAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119056274025034732005-06-17T19:48:00.000-07:002005-06-17T17:57:54.030-07:00ReminiscingAfter supper we watched "The Lion King," which we haven't seen in several years. I'm pretty sure the boy didn't remember having seen it before. The girl (10) was able to ask why Mufasa sounds like Darth Vadar. She's pretty good at picking up the similarities in voices from one (animated) film to another.Speaking of animation, when Lion King was released in 1994, it was the height of YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1119046867826348192005-06-17T17:30:00.000-07:002005-06-17T15:21:07.833-07:00ClosureNow the autopsy reveals that Terri Schiavo was blind, unable to swallow, and not rehabilatative. Thankfully I wasn't blogging when this issue broke, but I did read far too many blogs and comment boxes on the subject. Amy Welborn was the only blogger I recall saying that keeping Terri alive did not depend on her ability to be "cured." The parents claimed all they wanted was more tests, YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1118956244893122242005-06-16T16:07:00.000-07:002005-06-16T14:11:49.130-07:00KnowledgeThe boy (7) asked recently about where water came from. I talked about hydrogen and oxygen combining, which led to where did they come from. I said billions of years ago when the parts that made the earth combined—he interrupted with, “Oh, you mean after the Big Bang.” Now, he does read a lot of planet stuff, and I'm sure he doesn't have a complete understanding of the Big Bang (heck, I YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13693494.post-1118844990837827992005-06-15T09:13:00.000-07:002005-06-15T07:16:30.840-07:00Well, my husband has been telling me for a couple years now to stop READING blogs (and rarely commenting) and just start posting. How hard can it be? Couldn't fall asleep last night thinking of all the brilliant stuff I will post. OK, here's my initial effort. Go!YAMBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01546663942277262253noreply@blogger.com