And another source on the same story give us this:
"Still, Russian space officials apparently consider Apophis a significant threat to life on Earth despite the low odds of an impact. "People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and design a system that would prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," Perminov said, according to RIA Novosti." http://www.space.com/7720-russia-attack-asteroid-virtually-threat.html
Not very good at hiding their motives behind the science, are they? People's lives are at stake--GIVE ME SEVERAL HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS!--to counter the 1 in 250,000 chance of someone getting hurt.
This one is actually hard to cite the source for. They were both in a list of recommended articles at the bottom of the article linked to above. Here is a screen shot:
There is an iconic view of Dorothy on the Yellow Brick Road that you find all over the place. The road is somewhat central in the composition, with a tree on the left and some green (often the Emerald City, which is all spire-y like it's made of Evergreen Trees) in the background. Sometimes flowers, sometimes water....but it always kind of looks the same, so that even if you left Dorothy out, you'd know what the picture was really a picture of. You recognize it. It's that common.
Am I the only person who finds this more than a little creepy? I mean, there you've got the "missionary"--and he's holding the stereotypical horror film murder weapon, and the title could go with maniacal laughter....
I know this is supposed to be a visual representation of scripture, but...some scriptures, perhaps, are best left unvisualized.
"You are always paying attention to something. Attention is not the problem." Alejandro Lleras
This strikes me as SO true. You can't have a deficit of attention--attention is a constant. The deficit is in pleasing someone else by what you choose/must pay attention to. Sometimes in pleasing yourself, as well, I admit.
""Constant stimulation is registered by our brains as unimportant, to the point that the brain erases it from our awareness," Lleras said. "So I thought, well, if there's some kind of analogy about the ways the brain fundamentally processes information, things that are true for sensations ought to be true for thoughts. If sustained attention to a sensation makes that sensation vanish from our awareness, sustained attention to a thought should also lead to that thought's disappearance from our mind!" "
This is why I don't nag, whenever I can help it. Constant stimulation is registered by the brain as unimportant. If you just say it over and over, your kids/spouse/students will TUNE IT OUT.
And maybe the ADD brain has some good ideas. Apparently, this research discovered that "prolonged attention to a single task actually hinders performance."
Yesterday, Nathanael saw the moon was setting and tried to tell me about it: "Mom, the moon is coming down the sky."
I didn't understand what he said, so he tried again, "The moon is coming down the sky! See? The manana moon!"
Then I got it--the "banana moon"! How cute! I ran to the window and, sure enough, the moon looked like a banana resting in the sky. And it was going down the sky to the West.
So today he ran into the kitchen while I was preparing to make dinner and said, "You can't eat a manana moon."
I had to laugh. He was thinking a lot about it, I guess. Two year olds find such amazing things fascinating.
"You're right," I said. "You can't eat a banana moon."
"You can't reach a manana moon, Mom."
"Nope."
"I can't reach a manana moon and I can't eat a manana moon because I can't climb up the sky."
I've posted pieces of this process before, but we had pizza tonight and I thought I'd post the whole process in one place--both for ease of reference and because we've updated the process.
So, Home Made Pizza, from scratch. It's a 3-part process.
First, the crust. Start this at least 2 hours before dinner.
Put 2 c hot (120 degrees or so) water in a mixer. Add 2 eggs, 2 handfuls of sugar (about 1/3 c), 2 tsp salt, 1/4 c oil (optional, we discovered tonight when we forgot it). Add 1 Tbsp of yeast. Let sit 10 minutes. When the yeast is dissolved and foamy, add 4 SERIOUSLY heaping cups of flour--as heaping as you can get them. Let the mixer do the work--mix for 5 minutes or more, until the dough is smooth and satiny. Cover and let raise for a long time in a warm place (I often turn the oven on to about 100 degrees, let it heat up, and then turn it off and put the bowl of dough in there). Leave it at least 2 hours. Punch it down when it starts going over the top of the bowl (about every half hour or 45 minutes). (This recipe also makes incredible bread, scones, and donuts.)
Second, the sauce.
Put 4 small cans (or 2 big cans) of tomato sauce (about 30-32 oz) in a pot. Add 2 tbsp minced dried onion, 4 tsp Italian seasoning (I use the kind that costs $0.50 at WalMart), 2 tsp dried oregano, 2 tsp dried basil, 4 tsp sugar, garlic to taste (I use 1 tsp or so, but I just shake it in until it looks right), salt to taste (I shake in about 1/2 tsp), pepper to taste (I shake in about 1/4-1/2 tsp), and four pinches of red pepper flakes (optional). Stir well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes. Taste it before you use it and adjust the seasonings.
Finally, assembly.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Keep them covered when you aren't actually working on them. Work with one piece of dough at a time. Roll, pinch, press, pat, and stretch it until it is about 16 inches across in a circle or square. I roll it on the counter until it is about 12 inches across, then I put it into a greased pizza pan or cookie sheet (no cornmeal!) and stretch it gently and press it with my finger tips until it fills the pan completely. Cover with sauce (I splotch on 5-6 large spoonfuls and then smooth it around. Use about 1/5 of the total sauce for each pizza). Sprinkle with cheese (we prefer a mixture of mozarella and medium cheddar, sprinkled with parmesan at the end). Top with your favorite toppings (we like ham, pepperoni, pineapple, mushrooms, olives). Let raise uncovered for 10-20 minutes (the longer it raises, the thicker your crust will be--technically, this is optional, but the crust comes out really thin if you don't let the pizza raise) while you start on the next pizza. Bake at 350 for 13-14 minutes, until the crust is just golden and the cheese is just starting to bubble. As soon as you take it out of the oven, remove the pizza from the pan. Let it cool on a cooling rack (this is REALLY important--if you don't, the crust ends up soggy.)
Enjoy!
2 1/2 to 3 of these feed my family of 8 (but the kids are mostly small still!).
This guy shows a lot of insight into relationships (perhaps because he has the unique position of being able to analyze from the outside, since relationship-forming is not a natural skill for most Aspies? Just guessing, though.).
He cites here 7 habits that interfere with your social life.
I would like to suggest that they be read as 7 things that can destroy a marriage or relationship with your children--with your looking at YOU, not your spouse or child.
After all, you can't change them. But you can change you.
Really? That's what makes a man ideal? They have no ideas and no backbone? Great.
I was already peeved that they had introduced relationship drama to a toy that is supposed to be for little girls--never mind the physiologically impossible body shape and the fact that it's an adult doll that fosters "soap opera play"--making it formally "appropriate" for girls to have that kind of weird relationship drama was stupid.
Barbie, actually, is iffy in general (despite the fact that I loved the clothes when I was little).
While the other kids were building a snowman, number 6 was sleeping.
He's gotten so big in 8 weeks that when I pulled out the box of 6-9 month old sized clothes by accident, he was wearing them for a week before I noticed it was the "wrong size"--because they fit and were a little snug!
"Longmont Museum exhibits American quits, not like your grandmother's collection"
Perhaps that's because Grandma exhibits quilts?
(Oh, and they are like my grandmother's collection. It just so happens that my grandmother is an award-winning American art quilter, just like the artists whose works are in the Longmont Museum.)
The biggest chunks of Tim's income in the last long while have always come as a result of his work online. So we need more videos. We emptied the garage and remodeled it into a movie studio (on a budget of $25 no less--Tim is a make-it-work GENIUS.)
But there is no value in making more of the same, and there is no value in making a video that won't "go anywhere" (ie not get further work, not get passed on, etc.)
The world of online videos is driven by trends that change really really fast.
We got introduced with this:
Corey used Tim's song and performance (with moosebutter), 4 boxes style.
Tim did his own 4 Boxes video:
It spawned "parody" ads overseas:
And a whole genre of kazoo videos (when Tim made his vid, there were maybe 3 other kazoo videos online, and none multitracked):
Notice what happened, though, over time? No longer just 4 boxes. The whole concept developed, grew, changed, until 4 Boxes is, well, passe.
So now we're seeing the trend going here, being used by groups:
There's this:
And here, being used by solo artists still, but with enhancements:
And here, which is drifting even further from the 4 Boxes idea:
And this--it's all the same guy, but no boxes:
So that's one approach to a solo performer doing all the parts. You have multi-tracked songs, either performed live or performed lip-synced, showing each part in a box.
But there are other solo performers, like Tim, who do ALL the parts live. And they are interested in showing that in their videos--that they can perform all the parts by themselves live.
So we've been looking at videos from other performers who do the whole shebang live:
That 1 Guy, who does everything himself live using that cool, funky electronic instrument he invented:
BeardyMan, who is one of the early live loopers and who takes the more common DJ approach to looping:
I love how BeardyMan shows visually the movement of the loops in his song, and also how he uses hats to indicate when he's laying down different parts. Also love the view of his equipment on the table that anchors the video at the bottom there.
There is also DubFX's "Rude Boy":
I like that you can see just what he's doing there, what he has in his "rig".
So there you have it--the research we've been doing into solo a cappella artists and live loopers (and other solo artists) and how they show what they're doing.
Of course, the videos have been embedded in a larger, ongoing discussion here at home.
Tim doesn't want to just do what's been done. Especially not quite as good as has been done before. He needs to add to the evolution in order for it to be worthwhile, so we're talking, looking, dreaming, imagining....hopefully soon we'll be creating. (It has to warm up first--our garage is not heated.).
Hopefully soon we'll have videos to show you.
Meanwhile, a video of a live performance by Tim of his original song "Heartbreaks", taken by a fan.
I've been watching little videos, and looking at slide shows of formal gowns from all the award shows lately (I admit it--I love pretty dresses). What I've seen has surprised me. Not because I've never seen it before, but because somehow I couldn't SEE it before.
Most of the stars out there look downright sickly. Really grossly thin. Unrealistic for a human body. Not healthy.
Not even pretty.
Not even vaguely attractive.
Certainly not healthy.
This video pretty much visualizes it for me.
See? Pearl Baily looks gorgeous. Dinah Shore looks horribly thin. Emphasis on the horrible.
Just like one day I realized that many many people in Hollywood have the same exact nose, and that's unreal, I'm looking at all these adult women who are shaped like 14-year-olds, only with oversized busts, and I'm wondering how we ended up in a world that thinks this is not only normal, but ideal. It doesn't even look real. Or normal.
For Family Home Evening, we became spies. Following the lead of Secret Agent L (http://www.secretagentl.com/about/), we became Secret Service Spies (who do Service, of course). The kids picked spy names and thought of nice things to do for each other and for others, and they liked the idea a lot. Me, too. Sounds like a fun hobby.
Or below, although the narrowness of the frame bothers me and I can't change it. It makes the paragraphs look REALLY long, which makes them hard to read.
Anda read it and said it's really two chapters. So here's my question: is this chapter 1, chapters 1 and 2, or chapters 1-3?
One gets contemplative and doesn't realize he's tired.
One gets ultra creative and also hyper.
One gets clingy and scared and starving.
One gets really busy.
One gets aggressive, tearful, and LOUD.
One gets hungry and needs to be held.
So I get grouchy.
Is it any wonder that bedtime, when the kids are tired, is chaos around here? Nobody actually gets SLEEPY.
Today, the kids spent all day watching Kirby, a Japanese cartoon based on a video game. After they watched it a while, they decided to play "The Doppelgamer"--a "let's play, let's play" game (in other words, live instead of on a screen) that they play that incorporates characters from all the books, games, and movies they watch.
Benji put on his superhero cape and ran into the room. He said, "Hey, guys, I wanna play with you. Can I be Uncle Joe?"
The kids said, "Sure." and went on with their game.
Benji fought invisible bad guys for a minute and then said, "Hey, I'm Uncle Joe!"
I thought it was so cute, but I had to ask, "Why is Uncle Joe suddenly a superhero?"
Anda explained it for me. One of the characters in the Kirby video they had watched was named "Knuckle Joe."
So now Benji, complete with Super Hero Cape and crime-fighting abilities, has been dashing around the house, saving the world.
I just have to say: Denver's Children's Hospital is FANTASTIC.
Colorful. Friendly.
They have nursing rooms.
They gave both boys who went with us today teddy bears.
We were there because we've known for 4 years now that Caleb has a facial tic, and, after some research, we were fairly confident that he had a movement disorder/tic disorder, both in his face and his voice.
But we needed the official diagnosis to be able to say to his teachers, for example, "Don't rush him or cut him off; he really does know what he has to say, he just can't get through it quickly because his vocal folds tic" or, to his dentist, "Don't get mad at him when he doesn't keep his mouth open or his head still--his face tics, and the more you insist on him holding still, the worse the tic will be."
So we went to a pediatric neurologist. We described Caleb, and the doctor and her medical student (who was doing her rotations) were both FLOORED by how brilliantly smart he is. The med student nearly fell off her chair when we mentioned that Caleb was editing Wikipedia when he was in Kindergarten, and copy editing my novel for me--correctly--when he was 5.
They also said we nailed it. Tic disorder that affects face and voice.
They also said that they don't treat tics in kids unless it interferes with their social life (if they get teased) or if it interferes with their academics. Caleb is fine on both counts (thanks to homeschooling, in part--other homeschooled kids are WAY more tolerant of quirks like tics than public schooled kids. In general.). We didn't want to do meds anyway--the reports we read all over online were that the side effects of the meds were much worse than the tics. And the doctor said most kids outgrow their tics by the time they're 20.
So, what is a tic disorder? Think Tourette's. Only most kids with tic disorders do NOT swear. Caleb just has a nice big grimace that shows up, a head twitch, and he echoes syllables he's just said, like he is compelled to repeat them three or four times before he can move on to the next word. It sounds like he can't think of what to say next so he's just repeating what he already said, but really he knows exactly what he's trying to say. You just have to wait for his vocal folds to relax and let him say it. We explained it to the other kids last year (when we became sure of what it was and it was very apparent to them that he was doing something) by saying that it's kind of like a sneeze. Only they only have sneezes in their noses. Caleb gets them in his facial muscles and in his words--he can't help it any more than you can help a sneeze, and it doesn't mean anything more than a sneeze. It's not a big deal. It's not catching. It's just part of who Caleb is.
So all the kids are totally okay with it and we mostly ignore it (partly because if we do talk about it, it makes him tic more, and that gets uncomfortable for him.).
The doctor asked if that bothered him, and he said, "No. I just keep going until I get to the end of the sentence." It really doesn't bother him.
Caleb is completely comfortable with his tic--he even makes jokes about it. I think that's partly because we never made it a big deal. Ever. Even when we had to sit the other kids down and tell them to STOP DOING THAT repeating syllables thing. They had all picked it up from Caleb and thought it was an appropriate vocalization meaning "I'm thinking"--the way the rest of us use "um". We just explained that Caleb can't help it, but they can and they shouldn't do that. Caleb was there, and he was okay with that.
For him, having a tic is kind of like having to wear glasses. Or having hair that stubbornly sticks up. It's just part of you and you live with it. No big deal.
Caleb is a cool kid.
Oh, and the doctor said he's "neurologically perfect. He just has a tic." That's great to know.
It's also not catching.
But there is some evidence that it's genetic.
So that squinty blinking thing Benji started doing last month? Yeah....we're watching that.
Most outlandish claim I've seen in a Spam Email. I don't usually read them, but I had to make sure this one wasn't from a real person responding to a blog. Nope. Not real. Newton Izekor is not real, but he makes this wonderfully outlandish claim:
"God led me to your email and I know I’m blessed having to know you. "
So God is a Spammer? And possessing my email address is the same as knowing me?
"Female Vocalist Seeks to Create Intentional Band (Louisville)"
Since most bands are created unintentionally.....like falling down stairs. It just happens when you least expect it. And then BAM--you have to figure out what to do with all those drummers and guitarists again.
"When Parley P. Pratt, in 1835, was judged unfairly, bringing embarrassment and shame to him and his family, the Prophet Joseph Smith counseled, “Parley, … walk such things under your feet … [and] God Almighty shall be with you.” "
"After tasting of the fruit, Lehi saw “a great and spacious building … filled with people … old and young, … male and female; and their … dress was exceedingly fine; and they were … mocking and pointing their fingers [of scorn] towards those who … were partaking of the fruit.” An angel explained that the mocking, the scoffing, the fingers of scorn represented the pride and wisdom of the world. Nephi declared plainly, “We heeded them not.”"
"Will we understand everything? Of course not. We will put some issues on the shelf to be understood at a later time. Will everything be fair? It will not. We will accept some things we cannot fix and forgive others when it hurts. Will we feel separated on occasion from those around us? Absolutely."
That Salon article I mentioned before. http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/01/15/feminist_obsessed_with_mormon_blogs/index.html
A few thoughts, in no particular order:
It irks me that people keep citing that statistic that Utahns get more prescription anti-depressants to prove Mormons are all depressed and therefore hate their lives, or worse, that Mormon WOMEN are oppressed (because men never get depressed, right?). Here's the thing: Utah might prescribe more anti-depressants than anyone else. But it might not be the Mormons in Utah who are taking them. Maybe nonMormons in Utah get really depressed! Or it might be that because Mormons don't use alcohol or Marijuana to self-medicate for depression, we have to get the doctor-supervised kind of help. What's wrong with that?
Saddest idea EVER:
"And if they help women like me envision a life in which marriage and motherhood could potentially be something other than a miserable, soul-destroying trap, I say, "Right on.""
Who came up with the idea that marriage and motherhood are a miserable, soul-destroying trap? That's a horrible thing for our culture to believe. It's a thoroughly culture-destroying belief. Also, it condemns a whole generation of women to single, isolated, loneliness. And, dare I say this? It makes all these bright, educated women no better than prostitutes--living life alone and as sex objects when men "need" them rather than as equal partners, valued and adored and supported in pursuing their dreams (which is what marriage is supposed to be, and is for a lot of us), which is the exact opposite of what the feminists thought they were doing when they decided marriage and family are evil.
Why do I never self-identify as a feminist, even though I am totally in favor of so many things feminists fight for? Because the feminists were responsible for the greatest harm ever done to women: stealing from them the right and freedom to embrace and value the things that are unique to women: the roles of wife and mother, the ability to enjoy being pretty separate from being a sex object, the chance to embrace the experience of being all woman (by which I mean nurturing, creative, service-oriented, relationship-bound, emotional, busy...and yes, sometimes hormonal and sometimes pregnant). They've stolen everything valuable and left us, in the name of empowerment, with bitchiness and anything we can copy from men. In the name of freedom and equality, women have been forced to pretend they are men, and they can't do it any way except poorly because, let's face it--We aren't men. Why isn't that okay?
And, quite frankly, men aren't in any better position nowadays. They aren't even allowed to pretend they want to be married and faithful (because men can't--that's what they tell us--men can't be faithful because it's not in their nature), or even suggest they want to have children and to love and nurture and play with them (because any male who loves children is a pedophile, apparently).
In trying to root evil out of our society (and there was evil, don't get me wrong--the feminists were fighting real problems, and still are), they also rooted out the good. Unable (or unwilling) to take the time to discover what healthy and what cancerous tissues look like, they excised the cancers of society by cutting out the heart.
Now, even if people somehow managed to turn back to the natural way of living, they wouldn't know how to do it--how to be parents, how to be spouses. The traditional knowledge, lost, suddenly becomes more valuable than ever. And impossible to reclaim.
Nathanael, saying the alphabet very slowly and distinctly, gets hung up on the same spot all kids seem to have trouble: "j...k...l...m...MOE...p"
Nathanael also is trying to learn his nursery rhymes. He sings, "Tickery Tickery Dock. The mouse ran up the house. No. Tickery Tickery Tock. The mouse ran up the house. No. Tickery Tickery Dock. The mouse ran up the clock. Tee Tee Tee. Tickery Tickery tock. A mouse ran up the house."
One of the biggest challenges I found on tour with kids was birthdays or other celebration-worthy days. You can't skip a kid's birthday, and they want a cake. And cakes, from the store, are SO expensive--and usually nasty. We never could justify the cost--touring is expensive, and we're lucky if we bring home enough to pay the mortgage on our house at the end of two weeks.
The other thing I've noticed when we're on tour is that sometimes we just want a good old-fashioned home-cooked dessert, minus the artificial colors, preservatives, and overabundance of sugar. And sometimes I just want to bake.
So I finally found a good, easy MICROWAVEABLE cupcakes recipe, which also works for cake, and which is unbelievably fast.
One of the keys to cooking in a hotel room is keeping in mind that cleanup is not easy, and that we have to carry in anything we want to use, so we have limited kitchen tools on hand (only one glass bowl, for example). Almost everything we have must be disposable, and the fewer dishes we have to wash at the end of the day, the better. Also, we've discovered that hotel sinks are small and shallow, and many dishes don't even fit in them, which complicates washing and therefore cooking.
While almost everything needs to be disposable, we've also found that we have to keep garbage to a minimum--hotel rooms don't have large trash cans for a family of 8 to use.
This recipe uses minimal equipment, basic ingredients, and is easy. And it tastes good. Instead of frosting, top the cake/cupcakes with a scoop of ice cream or cool whip. Hotels all have different rules about fire in the rooms, but we figure if they don't get mad when people smoke in rooms (and they don't, no matter what their official policy is), they won't even notice if you light a birthday candle and then blow it out.
Cone Cupcakes/ Bowl Cake
10-12 ice cream cones, flat bottom kind
3 tbsp cocoa powder
½ c butter
½ c water
1 c flour
1 c sugar
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
¼ c buttermilk, sour cream, or yogurt (or milk with 1 tsp lemon juice in it)
1 tsp vanilla
Put butter, water, and cocoa powder in glass mixing bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave it again if the butter needs more time to melt, and stir again. Add, in this order and without stirring until the end, sugar, flour, soda, and salt. Stir well. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Stir for 1-2 minutes, until mixed. At this point, you can stick it in the microwave and cook it until it looks dry on top (I haven't done the whole batch before, so I don't know how long it takes. But 1 c in a small cereal bowl cooks in about 2 minutes). Or, spoon it into flat-bottomed ice cream cones (The kind that say “cake cones” on the box), filling to an inch of the top. Microwave for 1-1 ½ minutes (no longer, I caught one on fire microwaving it 2 ½ minutes). They're done when they look dry on top.
Now you can have a birthday party, and, if you use the ice cream cones, almost no cleanup OR garbage to throw away.
"She also started rigorous physical therapy, dangling her legs over her bedside to exercise her muscles and sitting in a chair for periods at a time. "
Rigorous chair sitting is my favorite therapy, although rigorous leg dangling isn't too bad.
"The cognitive ability and the speech are the key things," he said. "We know that she's moving her limbs. The question is, how strong is she."
Because limb strength always indicates cognitive ability and speech. That's why wrestlers and football players have such a strong reputation for.....hey, wait a minute here.......
"Giffords' family hopes to move the Arizona congresswoman on Friday to TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital in Houston, where her husband lives and works as an astronaut."
I bet you didn't know hospitals kept astronauts on staff. Their job? Well, some patients are pretty spacey, especially when they're on narcotics.
"the wounded congresswoman stood up and looked a window"
Hey, now. Let's not be mean. So she had a bullet pass through her head and they removed part of her skull. No need to start throwing that "window" insult.
" growing together in love and faithfulness, we can give children roots and wings."
"Having dwelt in flesh and subjected the flesh to the will of the Father, our Savior knows how to succor us, His people, in our pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, even death. Having “descended below all things,” our Savior can bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. “He was wounded for our transgressions, … bruised for our iniquities … ; [with our Savior’s] stripes we are healed.” "
"only our Savior’s Atonement transcends time and space to swallow up death, anger, bitterness, unfairness, loneliness, and heartbreak. Sometimes things go wrong even though we have done our very best. A Lamb innocent and pure, our Savior weeps with and for us. When we always remember Him, He can stand with us “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in.” His “faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.” In drawing us to Him, our Savior also draws us to our Father in Heaven. While some things are imperfect on earth, we can trust our Heavenly Father to complete “redemption’s grand design, where justice, love, and mercy meet in harmony divine!”
"Self-proclaimed feminist and atheist Emily Matchar recently wrote for Salon about her "addiction" to such blogs, calling them strangely uplifting and even encouraging.
"Indeed, Mormon bloggers ... make marriage and motherhood seem, well, fun. Easy. Joyful," Matchar wrote. "These women seem relaxed and untouched by cynicism. It's not that (my friend) or I want to quit our jobs to bake brownies or sew kiddie Halloween costumes. It's just that for (my friend), Mormon blogs are an escapist fantasy, a way to imagine a sweeter, simpler life.""
Just when I start to worry that I was totally off-base thinking I should be throwing my 7 year old into a college biology course, I get this.
She woke me up this morning with (and I quote. Directly. No paraphrasing at all.): "Mom, what are the symptoms of rhinovirus?"
What? Why?
I think I mumbled "Stuffy nose."
"Oh. Good," she said.
"Why? Are you sick?" I asked, coming more awake.
No, she explained. She's writing a comic, and the main character is a single cell, and the first episode is called, "Trouble in the nose."
In it, the Immune system sends Cellina and her dog, Nuclea, to battle rhinoviruses in the nose. And, since we were just studying the Lytic and Lysogenic cycles (virus "life" cycles), and also how the immune system works, I suspect she'll get it right and also exciting.
And I wasn't sure she was getting it.....
I love that homeschooled kids often come up with their own projects to show they are engaged in the material--no forcing, coercing, begging, pleading, or bribing involved. Just excited kids learning exciting things and applying them in cross-curricular ways. No teacher could ask for more!
" We would do well to search out answers to our problems and questions by investigating what the Lord has revealed through His prophets. With that same technology today, we have at our fingertips access to the words of the prophets on nearly any subject. What has God taught us about marriage and the family through His prophets? What has He taught us about education and provident living through His prophets? What has He taught us about personal happiness and fulfillment through His prophets?"
" [Follow] … the living prophet and the First Presidency … and be blessed; reject them and suffer."
"So I say, choose faith. Choose faith over doubt, choose faith over fear, choose faith over the unknown and the unseen, and choose faith over pessimism."
"Yes, faith is a choice, and it must be sought after and developed. Thus, we are responsible for our own faith. We are also responsible for our lack of faith. The choice is yours."
"By moving forward into the unknown, armed only with hope and desire, we show evidence of our faith and our devotion to the Lord."
"If confusion and hopelessness weigh on your mind, choose to “awake and arouse your faculties” (Alma 32:27). Humbly approaching the Lord with a broken heart and contrite spirit is the pathway to truth and the Lord’s way of light, knowledge, and peace."
"When logic, reason, or personal intellect come into conflict with sacred teachings and doctrine, or conflicting messages assault your beliefs as the fiery darts described by the Apostle Paul (see Ephesians 6:16), choose to not cast the seed out of your heart by unbelief. Remember, we receive not a witness until after the trial of our faith (seeEther 12:6)."
"As strong as our faith is, with all the mixed messages attacking it, it can also become very fragile. It needs constant nourishment through continued scripture study, prayer, and the application of His word."
"And because of faith I have personally witnessed a mountain of pain replaced with peace, hope, and gratitude."
He says, " Sisters, you are an essential part of our Heavenly Father’s plan for eternal happiness; you are endowed with a divine birthright. You are the real builders of nations wherever you live, because strong homes of love and peace will bring security to any nation. I hope you understand that, and I hope the men of the Church understand it too.
What you sisters do today will determine how the principles of the restored gospel can influence the nations of the world tomorrow. It will determine how these heavenly rays of the gospel will light every land in the future.4
...
May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. But don’t reach beyond your capacity. Don’t set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don’t feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don’t compare yourself with others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fulness of the gospel (see D&C 45:28). Wherever you have been planted on this beautiful but often troubled earth of ours, you can be the one to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5).
My dear sisters, as you live your daily life with all its blessings and challenges, let me assure you that the Lord loves you. He knows you. He listens to your prayers, and He answers those prayers, wherever on this world you may be. He wants you to succeed in this life and in eternity.
Brethren, I pray that we as priesthood holders—as husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and friends of these choice women—may see them as the Lord sees them, as daughters of God with limitless potential to influence the world for good."
" it is essential that values based on religious belief be part of the public discourse. Moral positions informed by a religious conscience must be accorded equal access to the public square. Under the constitutions of most countries, a religious conscience may not be given preference, but neither should it be disregarded."
" He pointed out that in societies where the citizens are taught from a young age to feel accountable to God for honesty and integrity, they will abide by rules and practices that, while unenforceable, promote democratic ideals. In societies where this is not true, there cannot be enough policemen to enforce honest behavior. "
"Let me be clear that all voices need to be heard in the public square. Neither religious nor secular voices should be silenced. Furthermore, we should not expect that because some of our views emanate from religious principles, they will automatically be accepted or given preferential status. But it is also clear such views and values are entitled to be reviewed on their merits."
"We need to protect our families and be at the forefront together with all people of goodwill in doing everything we can to preserve light, hope, and morality in our communities."
Latest fashion for the Golden Globes: the Barber Look! Now, is that a shawl covered with shears, or one shaped like a pair of scissors? It might have been more...um...pointed...if she'd worn a red-and-white striped barber-pole pattern dress!
Melody Yellowvan, our beloved 1996 Honda Odyssey, is on its last legs...er...wheels.
We bought it in May 2006, used, from a nice Turkish family that were returning to Turkey. They fed us Turkish pizza--it had mashed potatoes and hot dogs on it, and I was genuinely surprised that it tasted good. Most expensive car we've ever owned, too--we had to use our whole tax refund plus borrow $2200 from my parents to pay for her, but we've owned her outright all this time.
In just over 4 1/2 years, we've put almost exactly 120,000 miles on that car, bringing the total miles up to over 250,000 miles. We've put on numerous sets of new tires. We had her fitted with a tow hitch and bought a little yuppie wagon trailer that she pulled, fully loaded with sound equipment when she was already fully loaded with people. In all of that, she's had maybe 3 formal oil changes and one repair--to the power steering system when a part broke--and it had to be done twice. Because music is a tough business, she's had no new filter, no tune ups, no flushes or help of any kind. I think my Dad put new breaks on her once or twice.
Melody has been thrown up in, spilled in, colored, scratched, cleaned. One child drew a giant smiley face on her hood in permanent marker. She's been in a few fender-benders. We even made up a song about her that everyone in the family can and does sing.
In that time, we toured all over the West, sometimes with musicians and sometimes with kids in the car. We've gone from having 3 kids to having 6, bringing home three new babies in that van. We've lived in 4 houses in 3 states (beginning and ending in the exact same house). We've had trips to the church, school, library, grocery store, ER, dentist, doctor's office, airport, mountains, ocean, Grandma's house, weddings, funerals, duck ponds, friend's houses. We've had major discussions, and long quiet drives. The radio died not long after we bought her, and we never fixed it--and that's been a really wonderful, pleasant thing. The car became a kind of sanctuary for learning, discussion, and quiet thought. It's a place where Tim composed, revised, planned, dreamed, worked.
Unfortunately, no car can last forever. The tail gate no longer stays up. The inside driver's-side door handle is long gone (you have to open the window to let yourself out). The windows are scratched. The paint is dinged up. The front turn signal is missing entirely. It's been bumped, bruised, rear-ended (lightly, but more than once). And, as of this week, the engine is smoking like crazy, and it's going through a quart a oil a day. At least. And we're not driving it far each day.
With 250,000 miles on it, and without enough seats for our whole family anymore, it's getting close to time to say goodbye to Melody Yellowvan.
She's been a fantastic car--how many cars can take that much abuse and just keep going without needing either maintenance or repairs?
Start with the title: "Children you want with the kids you have". What? In other words, your kids don't measure up to your dreams, so instead of loving them, you're going to REMAKE them? That shows the ultimate disrespect for them, both as individuals and as creations of God. Besides, it doesn't work. It just damages the kids' psyches. How about loving, valuing, respecting the kids you have and helping them learn to deal with who they naturally are in the real world? Maybe you should get to know them instead of NOT WANTING them. Sheesh.
The description: "Do you want to know the secret of getting kids to work? Train them early! If you want your children to work together, finish their chores, complete their homework, and take care of their own personal hygiene and possessions, you have to train them. And it usually takes a helping hand and a few hints from someone who has "been there - done that." These suggestions, charts, and to-do lists from professional organize Marie Ricks will get you well on your way to having a clean home, a well-kept yard, and helpful, hardworking, on-their-way-to-being-independent children."
OH! So really the title should be "The SLAVES you want from the kids you have." That is more what this book is about.
Because, obviously, nobody wants a kid who has ADD, or is a little creative but also a little messy, or a kid who is busy programming computers and doesn't finish their chores, or a kid who has Asperger's.....
Because obviously all adults work together without stress, finish their chores before they do anything else, finish their housework every day.....etc.
Gosh, according to this, nobody wants my kids. Or ME. Or my husband--or anything he contributes to the world (like his music, videos, etc).
Newsflash: Creative people don't live this way. As adults. They don't work with other people. They don't finish chores if inspiration strikes. They lose their possessions--or give them away. And if you didn't have creative people in the world, doing everything "wrong," you also would have no music, art, books, dance, film....You want to live in that perfectly organized, clean, well-kept world? Sterile. No fun.
I don't even WANT a life like that. Might look pretty. And be pretty stifling. Not to mention stressfully impossible, and therefore confidence-shattering. Making that kind of organized the highest good destroys a lot of souls. Just sayin'. MOST of us can't live like that, and we waste a lot of energy feeling guilty about it. And this book is there to teach your children that THEY need to feel guilty about it, too, because if it doesn't come easy to them, then they are not wanted.
One of her chapters: "6. Obedience Is First, Honesty Is Second, and Their Bedroom Is Third"
Really? And here I am, busily teaching them that God is first. And everything else comes after, in a different order depending on the day and what the Spirit tells them. I guess I should put their bedroom in there somewhere. And start telling them that obeying me is more important than being honest. Because, after all, I am the most important thing EVER, and my instructions are always infallible and always have the greater view of what's going on everywhere.
I have issues with a lot of the things she says in the excerpt, too, but it's nitpicky.
It's probably a great book if you are a completely uncreative person who needs a white-glove-approved house in order to think.
But for the rest of us? Nah....if you want clean, try the FlyLady instead. And WANT your children. As they are.
If you're selling a used car, "Won't last long" is NOT what you want to say. I don't want yet another used car that is going to fall apart not long after I buy it!
