Our springtime companions, who've taken up residence under our porch roof :-)

Labels: Fun

This is just wrong on so many levels...

59-Year-Old Mom, 72-Year-Old Dad Abandon IVF 'Wrong Sex' Twins


hat tip: trish

Labels: Babies, Social Observation

It's now established fact.

Husband goes on business trip, safely out of reach of cries for help...something really bad happens in the house.

Don't try to talk me out of this. I'm 53, I've been married nearly 35 years, The Papa travels six times a year...I have enough evidence to prove it. It's a cosmic principle, firmly established. Some kind of switch is tripped when he leaves town, and it's then only a matter of hours before there's a major catastrophe.

So yesterday I went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Noticed that there were some dishes on the counter so I opened the dishwasher to see if it had been unloaded. As I opened it, I realized I was standing in water, and my first thought was that something was wrong with the dishwasher. But as I turned around to see how far the water had spread, the cold wet reality sunk in: the water was nearly an inch deep in THREE rooms, and the culprit was the washing machine in the laundry room that was STILL pumping water out onto the floor.

Immediately the kids sprang into action--unplugging the washer (it wouldn't shut off--the water level switch was broken), pushing water out the doors with brooms, and using every towel in the house up against baseboards to keep it from seeping into the walls. Meanwhile I was on the phone first with Dirk, lifesaver son-in-law, and then with the appliance people, the insurance company, the water extraction company, the renovators we use...hours and hours on the phone. Dirk ran to Lowe's, bought a Wet/Dry shop-vac type thing and was over here (with five of the kids since Aubrey was at the doctor with Sam) in a flash, sucking up every last drop of water with that contraption in what looked like a near-miracle.

Meanwhile, the insurance company was telling me they were pretty sure that with a flood of this magnitude we'd have to have all the flooring replaced and all the baseboards and probably even some drywall replace. I could see my whole life summer passing before my eyes and all my little projects down the tubes. Not to mention that our insurance has a $1000 deductible.

Within two hours of Dirk's leaving me with completely dry floors, the water extraction man was here with his little gadget that reads the moisture level INSIDE the walls...what will they think of next? To my (and his) utter amazement, there was no moisture in there! He said that with the amount of water I was describing, he could hardly believe that it hadn't already gotten behind the baseboards and up in the walls, but he was sure things in there were dry and he recommended we not do anything further. Nothing!

So...a HUGE thank you to Dirk for once again coming to the rescue when the cosmic switch was thrown, and to my great kids for doing all they could to minimize the damage until Dirk got here! There's no way you can see from the pictures how much water we were dealing with since I didn't go get the camera until we had a lot of it taken care of, but here's what it looked like before the shop vac...







I know my son-in-law appreciates having his backside on my blog. But hey, he'll probably get a free golf game out of this.


And then, of course, we're still dealing with the mess...hundreds of towels and no way to spin them since we can't plug the washer in...so we hung them pretty much everywhere, just in time to see our neighborhood homeowners' association Nosy Patrol driving around ready to ticket us for having our porch and yard look like a slum.

So...now we sit tight and wait for the next catastrophe.

I have Dirk on speed-dial.

Labels: Fun, Kids, The Papa

This morning Victor Davis Hanson, one of the pre-eminent historians of our age, starts the day with a stinging indictment of my generation, the one that followed "The Greatest Generation." I think he has hit the nail squarely on its metaphorical head in observing that Boomers want credit for everything, blame for nothing, and the spoils of the generations on either side of us. Too bad we also suffer from terminal myopia.

All About Me

Labels: Social Observation

Prayers today for one of the truly good guys.

Not all former press secretaries are so admirable.

'Nuff said.

Labels: News, People

I'm still around...life has just been very busy the past week and posting has taken a back seat. I'll be back soon :-)

Labels: Blogstuff

The heat and steam have arrived to stay for half the year in our part of the country. The spring wasn't as cool or as wet as we would have liked, but at least we did have a few weeks of warm and fairly dry breezes. Now I may go a whole day without knowing how wretchedly hot and humid it is, because we're well sealed up against the onslaught of summer. Believe it or not, I'll have most of my Christmas shopping done by the time we open up the windows again...

Do you know how many American World War I vets are left? Take a guess and then go read George Will's very touching article.

Finished: audio version of The Spiritual Brain. Like most books I read on the brain, I was engrossed even when the discussion was over my head. Just sitting in on the discussion was invigorating. I give it four out of five stars. (I gave it five stars until the last 17 minutes of the book.)

Started: the very LONG, unabridged version of David McCullough's John Adams. A remarkable man from a remarkable time, chronicled by a remarkable storyteller. It'll take me a month to get through it and I'll enjoy every hour.

Our church family enjoyed a sweet morning and lunch together today...wonderful worship service with the highlight of Zach K.'s baptism. For a number of reasons it was a moving ceremony and everyone in the congregation who knows this great little guy and his family was in tears. This was all followed by a scrumptious baptismal feast with Italian food that was WAY too good...

I love it when the contents of someone's diet becomes the topic of international conversation. Well, okay, it doesn't happen very often, but if Oprah tells us what she's eating, you can bet it's gonna be on tables all over the world. Sort of the edible version of Oprah's Book Club (which I happen to really like LOL). So this week we learned that Oprah's going to take some of those pounds off by going on a 21-day vegan diet that may or may not become permanent based on how it makes her "feel". And at the risk of your becoming envious of her ability to hire a personal chef and eat whatever she's brought, I give you this list of some of the morsels for the next three weeks: tofu scramble roasted tomato, grilled onion and sweet garlic aioli quesadillas with jicama slaw; strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes; steel-cut oatmeal with fresh blueberries, strawberries, chopped walnuts and a splash of soy milk and some agave nectar; and chunky mushroom soup with wild rice and pecans.

(Okay, no cutting in line. I'll get to you as soon as I finish my BLT and milkshake.)

In keeping with our family's characteristic forward-thinking mindset, I wish to announce that we are the owners of two, TWO Suburbans, this week's combined market value $750. Which will buy a tank of gas for each.

Just as I feared, we've seen an explosion of manufactured outrage this weekend over Hillary's comments about the primary timeline. And of course, it would have to be on (or maybe because of?) a very slow long weekend. I can't wait until Tuesday when there's bound to be something new to talk about. At least I'm not alone in my take of how ridiculous this whole thing was!

We finished school on Thursday of this week. It's been a great year, in my opinion, and an especially profitable one for our 6th grader, who finally decided that school wasn't prison and that grammar is so fun he may keep doing it all summer long whether he has to or not. Don't expect that one to last long, but it was nice to hear!

And now, it's time to get the plans finalized for the fall. Most decisions are already made, but I haven't done any of the fine-tuning or scheduling yet. I'll be taking a break for a few weeks to reorganize supplies and books, get rid of a lot of our elementary curriculum, and work on some other projects that have been crying for my attention for years all year long.

Ending the Snippets with lyrics from this morning's hymn...


from "Moment by Moment," lyrics by Daniel W. Whittle, 1893

Labels: Books, Church, Homeschooling, Music, Political Observation, Sundays, TV

My years have made me much less susceptible to surprise than I used to be, but I just didn't see this one coming. And yet, we already know that there's no "bottom" when it comes to victimhood.

A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they're allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones.

"I get chest pain and it doesn't go away right away," he said.

Firstenberg and dozens of other electro-sensitive people in Santa Fe claim that putting up Wi-Fi in public places is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Today, public buildings. Tomorrow, any publicly accessible space, including the great outdoors.

Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

Labels: News, Technology, Theater of the Absurd

I am not a Hillary fan.

(Y'all can wipe those silly looks off your faces right this minute.)

I'm not a fan of many Democrats, and I hope that the Republican wins in November.

But I also want to be thought of, no to actually BE, fair.

And so in that vein, may I just say that THIS is much ado about NOTHING?

You'd have thought that the senator had just called in Lee Harvey Oswald. What she meant, if I may be so bold as to get inside Hillary's head (there's a scary thought), is that the people pressuring her to get out of the race because it's getting so late in the year forget that many nominations haven't been wrapped up until much later than this. And she gave as an example the fact that Bobby Kennedy was still campaigning for the nomination in June of '68 when he was assassinated. And certainly no one was or is complaining about that!

Now please, let's don't make ourselves look foolish by saying she was playing the "assassination card" or using any other sly maneuver. She may have been unwise to bring it up at all given the vultures that stand around waiting for dead politicians, but let's give her a break. She's said and done enough stuff that deserves castigation without her opponenents(in or out of the Obama campaign) chewing this one to death.

Please.

Labels: Political Observation

It's a good thing this woman hadn't yet become an organ donor.

Rigor mortis doesn't always mean dead

(Be sure to watch the video.)

Labels: News

What do you get when you Google "Thatcher" together with "You're just picking on me because I'm a woman"?

Zero.

Peggy Noonan does it again.

Labels: People, Political Observation

I'm not going to have any more under-6month-old babies, but many of you will. I'm glad that God protected us from so many things that weren't known when our children were little, and here's one this morning that I wouldn't have suspected when our pediatricians told us to give our babies water:

Drinking Water Can Lead to Seizures in Babies

Labels: Babies, Health

His name is Matthew, he is 26 years old, and his supporters hope to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

But he won't be able to give evidence on his own behalf - since he is a chimpanzee. Animal rights activists led by British teacher Paula Stibbe are fighting to have Matthew legally declared a 'person' so she can be appointed as his guardian if the bankrupt animal sanctuary where he lives in Vienna is forced to close.

Excuse me? Did we completely bypass the Court of Chimp Rights?

Miss Stibbe, one of the animal activists (I'll let you figure out what the adjective "animal" is modifying here) reassures us:

'Everybody who knows him personally will see him as a person,' she said.

Oh, well in that case...

hat tip: trish

Labels: Theater of the Absurd

Here's a discussion we'll be having in our family over the coming days. This fall we will have four kids in college (one as dual credit for high school/college), one younger high schooler, and one middle school student. I think it's a good time for all of us to stop and take stock of how the wonderful advances in technology that give us so many unprecedented opportunities have also changed our brains, our attention spans, and our priorities. Despite the advantages, the many electronic extensions of the brain are threatening the life of the mind.

And though Dr. Mohler's post focuses on college students, few of us are immune to the downsides of the information and communication jungle we find ourselves in. Your grandmother may be immune, but trust me: your mother is not :-)

The Challenge of Attention in the Digital Age

hat tip: The Papa

Labels: Education, Learning, Technology

By tomorrow the entire Christian world will be praying for the precious Steven Curtis Chapman family. I can't even imagine the agony they are going through...

Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter killed by car in driveway

Labels: Music, News, People

I'm not nearly as optimistic as Mike Wise about The Spurs' chance to prevail against the Lakers in the next round of the NBA playoffs, but he sure does nail the country's attitude toward our boys:

Why America Hates the Spurs

hat tip: kristen s.
(yes, KRISTEN, the one who hates basketball!)

Labels: Fun

I thought John Dickerson's question this morning was pretty clever:

The race for the Democratic nomination—"race" is hardly the right word, is it?—now feels like a quantum physics problem: How long can a body exist in a state approximating motionlessness without actually stopping?

Lady, You're in My Way

Labels: Political Observation

What changes would you recommend if I told you that African-American children were:

four to eight times as likely to be drugged with Ritalin and other stimulants, which pediatrician Leonard Sax, calls “academic steroids.”

reading much more poorly than are other students.

five times more likely to commit suicide.

two and a half times as likely to drop out of high school.

severely underrepresented in college and even more so among college graduates, thereby locking them out of today’s, let alone tomorrow’s, knowledge economy.

You’d likely invoke such words as “institutional racism” to justify major efforts to improve African-Americans’ numbers.

All of the above statements are true except for one thing: I’m not talking about African-American children. I’m talking about children of all races, indeed half of all children, half of our next generation: boys.

This article is a good contribution to our discussion of the differences between boys and girls and how we educate them. Read more about the disparity and what we can do about it here:

The Problem with Boys

(Look around Nemko's site while you're there...a lot of good stuff.)

Labels: Education, Homeschooling, Learning, Social Observation

Shocking news that Sen. Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor...this morning questions were surfacing about why he was still in the hospital and now it's clear.

Let's hope that conservatives don't mimic the way the loony left acts when there's bad health news about Dick Cheney. This is a time for sober reflection and prayers for the senator and his family, not cheering.

Labels: News, People

And the weight of the evidence continues to mount, continues to be ignored:

So much for "settled science"

Labels: Science

Oh yeah, I love Thomas Sowell's random thoughts on the passing scene...sort of a Sunday snippets for social observers...

Random thoughts

Labels: Political Observation, Social Observation

Blair, you should, you know, like totally follow this dude's advice...

David McCullough urges BC grads to speak properly

:-)

hat tip: trish

Labels: Language

Here are a few pictures from this weekend's recitals. We were so proud of our three musicians!

John Caleb, playing "Beauty and the Beast"




Shelley, playing "Fantasy in D Minor" by Mozart

Shelley, singing "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from Phantom of the Opera



And Shelley with big sis CJ, who beautifully accompanied Shelley's vocal piece

Labels: Kids, Music

And no, he's not in Granny's dryer, he's at his house in his bed. This is just the first picture I found :-)

Labels: Grandkids

When I first saw this story last night, I was sure that by this morning I'd be hearing a flood of doctors and researchers debunking it or saying no one should be changing their behavior on the basis of this study.

On the contrary, today it's being taken very seriously. There are questions--are the effects really because of radiation or because of other factors as yet untested? In any case it's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out; when behaviors are very entrenched there's usually a concerted effort to make them "okay" rather than change the behavior. If I were still having babies I'd have a very hard time with this one, but I don't think I could ignore it, either.

So...stay tuned.

Warning: Using a mobile phone while pregnant can seriously damage your baby

Labels: Babies, News, Technology

Only an hour left in my Sunday and I haven't had time to post yet! It's been quite a weekend, with a lot of ups and downs...

Grandson Sam, 3, is once again hospitalized. His doctor suspects pertussis (whooping cough) but they won't know for sure for a couple of days. In the meantime they're trying everything to keep him stable, but his little body is so fragile that any virus, even a cold, can turn his world upside down. Sadly, both his mommy and daddy are sick, too. Please add them to your prayer list.

We had a wonderful visit with my youngest brother and his wife and two tiny girls. We haven't had an extended visit with them in years so it was so very nice to have them here for two nights. And we hope it happens again soon!

And this was the weekend of the spring piano recitals. The Conservatory that our kids are part of held recitals yesterday and today...I'll get a few pictures posted tomorrow. John Caleb, in his first recital ever, played the theme from Beauty and the Beast; Shelley sang "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from Phantom of the Opera; she played Mozart's "Fantasy in D Minor"; and CJ accompanied Shelley and another voice student. Their hard work and their progress made us proud. And we all say a special thank you to our super-teacher, Penny Pitamber. She's the best.

Tomorrow we begin our last week of school for the year. Many of the kids' subjects are already finished so it will be a week of tying up loose ends and continuing the planning for next year. We're all looking forward to a few weeks of sleeping late!

In Dirk's absence this morning, The Papa preached one of the finest sermons I've ever heard him preach. It was a measure of God's grace that this "spur of the moment" change became such a blessing. We missed Dirk, but how good of God to provide this powerful message from His word even in the midst of crisis.

My brain is already shutting down so that's all the snippets I can come up with tonight. I'll try to spread some through the week :-)

Labels: Church, Grandkids, Homeschooling, Kids, Music, Sundays

I am so aghast at this I can't even comment:

U.N. racism investigator to visit U.S. from Monday

Labels: Theater of the Absurd

It's nice to see our state getting some good publicity over a topic that affects all of us in Texas!

Why Doctors are Heading for Texas

Labels: News, Social Observation

Why is it that so many politicians seem to have a death wish? Even the good guys...



hat tip: Pam

Labels: Political Observation

With caution, I want to highly recommend the book I just finished listening to, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. It's a horrible story, blanketed in one woman's love relationship with her Lord and the phenomenal trust she learned through one of the darkest nightmares imaginable. Few of us can grasp the scope of what happened in Rwanda in the 90's, but this book goes a long way toward making it a little more real...I give it five stars.

Labels: Books

Ummm...here is, like, one of my pet peeves, you know? I mean like we've talked a lot about the overuse of "like" and "ya know," but does it bother anyone else, this infernal escalating interrogative slide at the end of EVERY sentence? If you haven't noticed it, here's a short course!



hat tip: jen via annie

Labels: Language

You're a young, busy homeschooling mom and it seems you have more to do in a day than you have hours to do it.

You're a single working mom with no energy left at the end of the day.

You're a 40-, 50-, or 60-something who has watched the years slip by without your having found the time to read the classics or learn about topics that have always interested you.

Can you spare 5 minutes?

That's all it takes to read a daily installment of that book you've always wanted to read, or the latest installment of "Best Picture" Oscar winners or famous inventors or wonders of the world. You can even get a short course in wine or Greek mythology. Daily Lit is a website created so that people like you and me can get a huge selection of literature and other choice knowledge delivered in small doses.

One installment of your chosen book is emailed to you each day and is short enough to be read while you wait for the pasta water to boil. Okay, so it takes half a year to read A Tale of Two Cities or Pride and Prejudice this way. But if you're having a hard time finding time to read at all, you could at least finish out this year with one or two classics under your belt! And you can always double up and read twice as fast if you choose.

Best of all, many of the great books and all of the Wikipedia "tours" are absolutely free. Books in the public domain cost nothing; copyrighted books require payment only after you receive the first few installments and want to continue. So if you have five minutes a day that you can spare to get back into the habit of reading, go take a look at DailyLit.com and come back and tell me what you're reading!

(For those of you with an iPod and more than five minutes, I still HIGHLY recommend audible.com !)

DailyLit.com FAQs

Labels: Books, Learning

My heart is heavy.

Another tilt in the slide toward the denigration of the God-ordained order.

California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban

Labels: News, Social Observation

...I offer today's comments from Mr. Thomas:

Despite a recent Wall Street Journal editorial characterizing his position on global warming as "Obama lite," McCain asserted, "We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great. The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge." No, the most relevant question is whether global warming is true. Cults ignore evidence and facts contrary to their blind faith. Science should never be blind to opposing views, but the apostle of global warming, Al Gore, and his new disciple, John McCain, want us to believe in a 2008 version of the Pete Seeger anti-war lyric: "we were -- knee deep in (carbon monoxide) and the big fool said to push on."

McCain would have done better to push back against the global warming cult and conduct a raid on the cultists similar to what Texas authorities did to the FLDS polygamists. Instead of buying into the claims of global warming alarmists who seek more control over our lives through big government intrusion, McCain should demand a debate on the issue. Global warming cult leaders won't debate. Al Gore has refused every debate challenge, asserting the facts are undeniable and that global warming is real. That's another mark of a cult leader; he will tolerate no doubters.

Are there doubters? Credible ones? Are there doubters who come from places other than conservative corners?

Growing numbers of atmospheric scientists and others with related expertise are emerging from the global warming cult and testifying to their conversions. They are mostly ignored by the media and by politicians who have embraced the cultists' doctrines.

Among the noted converts is Claude Allegre, a member of the French Socialist Party and a former Minister of National Education. Allegre is also a member of the French and U.S. Academy of Sciences. He once was a believer in the "science" behind global warming, but no more. He, too, wants a debate and his ranks are growing.

When you have a French Socialist attempting to de-frock the clergy of the climate change cult, I'd say you're close to the tipping point.

Sen. McCain, I'd rather see you as our next president, appointing the Supreme Court justices who will be the arbiters of the next three decades. But please, look for another place to separate yourself from George W. Bush. Global warming is the low-hanging fruit, and it's already rotting.

McCain Joins Global Warming Cult

Labels: News, Political Observation, Social Observation

I'm quite sure I've exceeded my daily quota of posts, but I have to get one more in. When you write a piece combining politics and grammar, you've got me hooked. And especially when the gripe is subjective/objective pronouns. And especially when it's the Obamas. And especially when you're not griping about using sentence fragments or beginning sentences with conjunctions :-)

The Obamas: When Grammar Gets Political

Labels: Language, Political Observation

"I don't have a candidate I'm supporting and I'm certainly interested and excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring," he said, but went on to accuse him of a "phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional" voting record.

"I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be," Penn said.

(Sean Penn, speaking at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival)

Labels: Political Observation, Theater of the Absurd

...but today I'm just hearing the first rumblings of Hillary running as an independent! Karl Rove is discussing it on FOX right now...

I say, you go girl! Ralph Nader isn't going to fragment the Dem vote nearly as much as he once did, so this would be a welcome development :-)

However, I want to go on record as saying that I don't think even Hillary would stoop to this. (Unless of course she thought she could win.)

Labels: Political Observation

I appreciate all that our men and women in uniform do for our country, and especially in the context of war. I believe that the Pentagon should do all it possibly can for those who return home with psychological wounds and emotional trauma (though I will confess to having an aversion to the relatively new PTSD label).

But this, this is just too much. It denigrates and diminishes the recognition we pay to those who come home physically scarred by direct engagement with the enemy.

Please, let's find another way to honor the service and treat the mental/emotional wounds of our soldiers, airmen, and sailors. Bestowing a Purple Heart is not the way.

Labels: News, Social Observation

Somewhat surprisingly, two more superdelegates have declared for Obama this morning after Clinton's 40+ point win in West Virginia. I'm just cynical enough to believe that this had been arranged beforehand, in order to blunt the sting of Obama's inevitable defeat and deny Clinton any momentum that could have been perceived out of WV. (Yes, Senator, I am thrilled that you want to go ahead and declare for me...but do you think you could hold that announcement until Wednesday morning?)

And John McCain, on a climate change tour? Please, don't even get me started. Can you spell P.A.N.D.E.R. ?

Labels: Political Observation

Welcome, and weep:

If you thought the soft-porn image of Disney teen queen Miley Cyrus—wearing nothing but ruby-stained lips and a bedsheet—in Vanity Fair magazine was disturbing, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Pop diva Beyoncé Knowles, 27, and her fashion designer mother have launched a girls clothing line that makes Miley’s bare-backed glam session look like a Shirley Temple photo shoot.

The Knowles’ family business, “House of Dereon,” recently published advertisements for its “Dereon Girls Collection” with young models who look no older than my second-grade daughter. They are seductively posed and tarted up, JonBenet Ramsey-style, with bright lipstick, blush and face powder. Draped in bling, several of the girls sport leather jackets and studded accessories.

If you need more, complete with very sad pictures, Michelle Malkin has it here:

Beyoncé's new brand of pedophilia chic

Labels: Children, Theater of the Absurd

...a fascinating find!

Divers find ancient bust of Caesar

Labels: Homeschooling

See? The polls haven't even closed in WV yet, and based on exit polling the pundits are formulating the new path to the nomination! ARRGGHH!

Labels: Political Observation

In this sense, may I always remain a child...

Belief in God 'childish,' Jews not chosen people: Einstein letter

Labels: People, Science

This political season is such a kick. I laugh every time I hear the collective chattering class warn us that no matter how well Hillary does in the upcoming primary (whichever one it happens to be), there is still no way she can win and Obama is de facto the nominee. And then when the results come in and she wins, all of a sudden she's got the big MO and maybe she can pull it out after all. Okay, which is it folks? What good does momentum do you if there's no chance?

I tend to come down on side the first: Obama is now running as the nominee and nothing Hillary can do will change that.

But then I remember who we're talking about.

There's about 30% of a hanging chad in my political bones that thinks Hill's got something up her sleeve, some ugly Rev.-Wright-like piece of napalm that she is holding to leak to the press on the eve of the Democratic convention. The way I see it, she'd try and lob it in the back door and maintain plausible deniability that she knew anything about it...but it would still be out there.

Failing that, Bill is going to have some kind of major meltdown in which he thinks he will be boosting her chances of starting a superdelegate superslide in her direction, but that will instead end up finishing off his all-important (to him) legacy. He will everafter be known as the Hoke from Hope who was such a self-promoter he couldn't manage to promote anyone else.

Not even his wife.

In any case, I believe that we are not done with the surprises. Keep that remote handy.

Labels: Political Observation

If you're interested in an analysis of how the ghost of the Clinton impeachment hovers over the current race for the Democratic nomination, you'll find it here:

Siege Mentality

Labels: Political Observation

I had a lovely Mother's Day visit with my mom. I was only there for 24 hours, but she says it's just the kind of Mother's Day present she loves. I'm very glad I went. Got back last night very tired but it was well worth it.

And then I got to spend Mother's Day evening with MY kids and some of the grandkids. How blessed I am to have so many of them here!

On the car trip I listened to all of Into Thin Air and then started one that John Caleb has been after me to read: The Westing Game. This title, a Newbery winner, has been a favorite of several of my children, one that some of them have read half a dozen times. So I downloaded it from Audible.com and I'm about halfway through it.

Speaking of books, John got me two for Mother's Day: The Strangeness of Beauty, and Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. On my stack they go! Oh, I need to read SO much faster...

This morning was my first physical therapy appointment after the March surgery. The goal will be to strengthen my quad muscles and reverse the atrophy so we can determine whether my pain is muscular or whether it's related directly to the bone graft. And that will probably take about six weeks of 2-3 visits a week.

We woke this morning to news of yet another natural disaster--a 7.8 earthquake in China that was felt in several different countries and has reportedly killed thousands and trapped many people alive. And this as the magnitude of the cyclone in Myanmar is still not even understood yet. And the photos of the destruction caused by tornadoes right here in the U.S. reminds us that no one is immune. I realize that there's a tremendous amount suffering in this world even on a "good" day...but these tragedies bring truth right to our faces and give perspective to our petty dissatisfactions with our lives...

Nathan is home from school! It's remarkable what a semester away can do for a young man, and this is no exception. I'm very glad to have him home for the summer, but it's clear that college has been good for him.

This will be our next-to-last week of school! We can all smell summer and I'm no exception. I'm making my list of all those little projects I'd like to get accomplished. Well, okay, all the BIG projects I'd like to get accomplished. The summer months never seem to last as long as I need them to!

Did you see the clip of SNL doing Hillary this weekend? Oh my goodness, I'd say the tide has really turned...especially since a couple of months ago SNL was doing skits that helped her! Anyway, here it is if you didn't see it elsewhere:



(More and more the "sore loser" theme is coming through in editorials, blogs, and from the TV talking heads. I feel kind of sorry for Lanny Davis, out there limping along with the Clinton talking points, knowing deep in his heart that it's over.)

This week I'm going to go and buy several shrubs to grow in containers on the deck. I've done some research to see which ones should survive the scorching summer and found some I really like. I cannot, will not succumb to cactus. Nope, I'd rather have a naked deck.


I've also just bought one of these...an Electrolux Pronto cordless stick vacuum. Knowing my horrible luck with all kinds of vacuums I don't know how successful this will be, but I'll let you know. If it works as it should, it will be particularly helpful for stairs and other hard-to-access areas, and I love the fact that it has a built-in "dustbuster" type tool.

Hope all of you have a nice spring week!

Labels: Books, Health, Homeschooling, Kids, News, Political Humor, Political Observation, Sundays

Come back tomorrow for the Snippets...I'm just getting back into town and can hardly keep my eyes open...

After a day of writing and finishing up the first draft of our latest project, I am packing a little suitcase and heading for my mother's. I don't see her often enough, and so this year my Mother's Day gift to her will be an in-person visit. I'm going to drive up tomorrow and give myself some extra time to stop in a couple of those places that I always see and think, "One of those days I'm going to go in that shop!" That will be my Mother's Day gift to myself :-)

In the meantime...the political intrigue continues. Will she? Won't she? Should she? What if she does? What if she doesn't? Doesn't she know? One of my cousins thinks she's got an awfully smug look on her face and has something up her sleeve...we'll see.

So, I leave you with another good one from the incomparable Peggy Noonan, and she will explain it all and analyze it for us.

Damsel of Distress

hat tip: Lyric

Oh, and I have to throw this in. My warped sense of humor (and my age, I'm sure) made this the funniest line of the day:

Here's the first place an outsider could see the tensions that have taken hold: on CNN Tuesday night, in the famous Brazile-Begala smackdown. Paul Begala wore the smile of the 1990s, the one in which there is no connection between the shape of the mouth and what the mouth says.

Labels: Holidays, Political Observation

When it comes to the general election, the Republicans may not need to invoke the Rev. Wright. The Dem's own First Spouse, Michelle Obama, may continue to give them all the fodder they need to portray the anti-American, elitist, and entitlement mentality of the nominee and his wife:

Mrs. Obama had lots of other complaints, too.

She’s irritated at those people who have suggested that she and Sen. Obama are elitists.

And she appears to be still outraged — at this late date — by the fact that she had to take out loans to attend Princeton and Harvard Law School.

It took her years to pay them back, something she has kvetched about in numerous public appearances.

Imagine that! First she had to borrow money to go to some of the world’s most selective and expensive schools — schools whose graduates usually do pretty well in the world — and then they made her pay it back.

There “they” go again.

Yeah, imagine.

Those who think this couple has a feel for what the "forgotten" folks endure are sorely mistaken. Their idea of injustice and yours are strikingly different. And it won't work to your favor.

For a more complete list of Michelle's grievances, go here:

Michelle Obama's Tales of Woe

Or not.

Labels: Political Observation, Theater of the Absurd

I KNEW George Will would come up with something good regarding Hillary's contortionist rationalizations for staying in the race!

Hillary Clinton, 60, Illinois native and Arkansas lawyer, became, retroactively, a lifelong Yankee fan at age 52 when, shopping for a U.S. Senate seat, she adopted New York state as home sweet home. She may think, or at least would argue, that when she was 12 her Yankees really won the 1960 World Series, by standards of "fairness," because they trounced the Pirates in runs scored, 55-27, over seven games, so there.

Unfortunately, baseball's rules -- pesky nuisances, rules -- say it matters how runs are distributed during a World Series. The Pirates won four games, which is the point of the exercise, by a total margin of seven runs, while the Yankees were winning three by a total of 35 runs. You can look it up.

After Tuesday's split decisions in Indiana and North Carolina, Clinton, the Yankee Clipperette, can, and hence eventually will, creatively argue that she is really ahead of Barack Obama, or at any rate she is sort of tied, mathematically or morally or something, in popular votes, or delegates, or some combination of the two, as determined by Fermat's Last Theorem, or something, in states whose names begin with vowels, or maybe consonants, or perhaps some mixture of the two as determined by listening to a recording of the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" played backward, or whatever other formula is most helpful to her, and counting the votes she received in Michigan, where hers was the only contending name on the ballot (her chief rivals, quaintly obeying their party's rules, boycotted the state, which had violated the party's rules for scheduling primaries), and counting the votes she received in Florida, which, like Michigan, was a scofflaw and where no one campaigned, and dividing Obama's delegate advantage in caucus states by pi multiplied by the square root of Yankee Stadium's ZIP code.

Labels: Political Humor, Political Observation

I stayed awake last night until the last of the networks had called the primary races (read: until Lake County, Indiana finally got past their nut case mayor and released their returns. He should be banned from public forums). But seeing the Clinton campaign implode has me almost gleeful...not because I like Obama or even because I think he'd be an easier opponent. I don't. But I just don't want to see her ruthlessness pay off, even in getting the nomination.

I don't like to reproduce whole posts from other sites--usually I want to just whet your appetite to go read the whole thing. Because this one is so short and because Scrappleface is such a slow-loader, I'm going to include the whole thing here. I love this :-)

Hillary Quits, Blames ‘Vast Math Conspiracy’

by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 21 Comments

(2008-05-07) — Sen. Hillary Clinton aborted her White House bid today blaming what she called a “vast mathematical conspiracy” that secretly works to keep women out of positions of power.

The former First Lady said she would return to the U.S. Senate and introduce legislation to help female presidential candidates “break through the math ceiling.”

Party insiders pressured her to pull out after Tuesday’s crushing defeat in the North Carolina primary and her surprisingly thin victory in Indiana.

“It’s beyond coincidence that Barack Obama has more votes, more delegates and more money than I do,” said a tearful Sen. Clinton at a news conference announcing her withdrawal from the race. “It would take a willing suspension of disbelief to think that I was forced out of this race because a majority of Democrats don’t want me to be president.”

“I’ve always heard that figures don’t lie,” she said, “but apparently they’ll do whatever it takes to crush the hopes and dreams of American women.”

[and please...nearly every time I post something from Scrappleface I get people asking me why I'd post something like that when it's obviously not true or wanting to know what the source is. It's satire, folks.]

Labels: Political Observation

Al Gore Calls Myanmar Cyclone a 'Consequence' of Global Warming
Former vice president tells NPR's 'Fresh Air' cyclone is example of 'consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming.'

Tragedies of all shapes and sizes are used for this man's personal gain and credibility. It's obvious he is paying no attention as the weight of science begins to threaten not only his premises but also his cockamamie solutions.

If you need to read more from the tunic-less emperor, it's here.

Labels: Science, Theater of the Absurd

There is a Bible on a pedestal in Gretta Vosper's West Hill United Church in Toronto. She would prefer it did not have a special place, she said, because it is just a book among other books. In a similar way, the cross that is high above the altar has no special meaning, but there are a few older congregants for whom the Bible and the cross are still nice symbols so there they remain.

Though an ordained minister, she does not like the title of reverend. It is one of those symbols that hold the church back from breaking into the future -- to a time "when the label Christian won't even exist" and the Church will be freed of the burdens of the past. To balance out those symbols of the past inside West Hill, there is a giant, non-religious rainbow tapestry just behind the altar and multi-coloured streamers hang from the ceiling.

"The central story of Christianity will fade away," she explained. "The story about Jesus as the symbol of everything that Christianity is will fade away."

As Mark Steyn, by way of The Papa, reminds us, the mainline churches have long been beyond parody. If you can stand more, read the article here:

Christianity without Christ

UPDATE: Annie writes, "i'm not sure how long my mouth had been gaping in horror, but it was long enough that i was drooling before i picked my jaw up off the floor. even now, i'm sort of pounding my keyboard with rage and it hardly resembles typing. i felt the only thing missing from the article was some sort of closing like "Ms Vosper currently resides in suburban Toronto with her life-partner, Susan, a tenured professor at University of Toronto.

"i googled Ms. Vosper and it is my opinion that the national post article was entirely too generous in their descriptions of her 'spirituality'. she's basically an Earth worshipper who won't go so far as to deny the existence of God."

See West Hill United Church

Labels: Social Observation, Theater of the Absurd

From Al Mohler's blog this morning:

Several years ago now, I was appearing on a national network interview program and found myself discussing capital punishment with a woman who, during a commercial break, indicated that she had recently seen a combine going through a wheat field. She was horrified. The wheat was being cut down by thousands of stalks a second. She felt grief for the wheat, she revealed.

Oh, it gets better. And you thought PETA was bad:

Plant Rights, Screaming Vegetation, and a "Biocentric" Worldview

hat tip: The Papa, along with his comment: "I guess all those plants rights folks are prepared for a slow death. No meat, no wheat, no rice, etc. One outcome."

Labels: Social Observation, Theater of the Absurd

Ah yes, the Snippets. Seems like life this week was a series of snippets with no cohesion. Maybe the next one will make more sense?

I did already say don't buy a Dell printer, right? Okay, just checking.

Saw the movie Dan in Real Life this week. What a sweet movie! The Papa and the kids had already seen it and just insisted that I watch it too, and they were right :-)

Thank you for the prayers for young David this week. We found out after seeing several doctors that he has a serious but not dangerous eye condition. It may never improve, but it is not being caused by anything that's going to threaten his health and for that we are very thankful. Here's David in his new glasses, for which he is very thankful!

As if that weren't enough for one family for one week, David's little brother Sam spent a good part of the week in the hospital. He evidently contracted a virus that was too powerful for his little asthma-challenged body, and he had some seizures, dehydration, and breathing struggles. Poor Mom and Dad are worn out! But Sam is home again, and even though he's not back to 100%, he's stable.

My latent geek side (as well as my love of demographics and associated trends in technology and marketing) is loving the latest book in the iPod, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. If you share these interests with me, I recommend the book to you. If not, you'd probably hate me for saying you should read it...


One of the highlights of the week was getting my new desk chair. My bum leg does not like my old chair and sitting in it at my desk seemed at times like life without the possibility of parole. But now I'm so comfy I don't know if I can work without falling asleep! Of course The Papa had the pleasure of putting it together, and I'm so proud of him for READING THE DIRECTIONS FIRST!





What in the world can I say about politics this week? It is SO crazy that I've started keeping a page in one of my MS OneNote notebooks of all the predictions being made by well-known pundits just so I can go back and laugh in a few months.

For Father's Day, I am currently in the market for...Oh never mind, I'd better not say that here :-)

I can't remember what it was I did to get a free subscription to Bon Appétit magazine, but I like it! The truth is that I probably would never pay for any food magazine again with the wealth of great food blogs available to me. I love the personal aspect of these blogs and the photos on some of them are better than mags, not to mention much more detailed. But, if you're gonna give me Bon Appétit free, I'll take it!

At Granny's House we're busy making up summer reading lists for our teens and 'tweens. Any suggestions for great summer reads, both fiction and non-fiction?

And I'll snip it right there and finish up the last of the week's lesson planning. Have a great week!

Labels: Books, Grandkids, Movies, Political Observation, Sundays, The Papa

The lovely and mucho fun site 5 Minutes for Mom is running a Mother's Day photo contest with a $1000 prize! They asked for photos "that tell some sort of story of what motherhood means to you," and they received hundreds of entries. And my cousin Johanna's photo made it to the finals! She is a great photographer (she took my profile pic), but this is one her mom took of Johanna and Josiah, and it's fabulous...and of course I am NOT biased. Promise.

There are some really nice photos in the finals (plus some I don't think exactly fit the theme, but that's for you to decide...) Check out Johanna's pic under the "Too Small for Me" heading. I love the way it whispers of a little guy slightly afraid of his first steps in the big wide world and a mom who's got her hands in the things that she's brought to comfort him as she stands close by.

So go take a look. And VOTE!

And you can vote for anyone you want to.

Really.

Seriously.

I mean it, it's fine.

Perfectly fine :-)

Mother's Day Photo Finalists

Labels: Fun, Mothering

The Papa checks in with this piece, commenting "I hate it when facts get in the way of fetishes":

Chill Out on Climate Hysteria

hat tip: The Papa

Labels: Science, Social Observation

Today, answering the burning question,

"Why is it that so many Democratic leaders find it necessary to continue making spectacles of themselves after they leave office?"


The Democrats' Ex-Presidents

Labels: Political Observation, Theater of the Absurd

Okay, gather the kids around and read this story together...it's not all about steroids and cut-throats!

Softball opponents offer unique display of sportsmanship

hat tip: Pam Y.

Labels: Fun

Each new business cycle, theological movement, and political season brings us new clichés that then become part of the cultural literacy we all move with. Sometimes this is fun, sometimes it's merely annoying, and sometimes it's downright GRATING.

If I never hear the phrase, "throwing him under the bus" again, it will be altogether too soon!

Labels: Language, Political Observation, Social Observation