Article #1

I'm posting four articles today that I read on World Net Daily. I just love that web site. I'm beginning to suspect that I am addicted to it...

Senses special: The art of seeing without sight

This is one of the most incredible stories I have ever heard. It's almost unbelievable. I don't see how evolution could account for this. It certainly could be used to argue for God as creator. Scientists have discovered a poor blind man from Turkey who can accurately paint and draw with color, shadow, and perspective. You just have to read this article. I am still stunned. This guy loves to paint birds in flight. The article says that the scientists are studying his brain to figure out how he does it.

Article #2

Smithsonian in uproar over intelligent-design article
Museum researcher's career threatened after he published favorable piece

Here's a quote from this article:

"Klinghoffer points out the circularity of the arguments of critics who insisted intelligent design was unscientific because if had not been put forward in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
"Now that it has," he wrote, "they argue that it shouldn't have been because it's unscientific." "


The guy who is in hot water over this Smithsonian article didn't even write the article itself! He just made the decision to include it in the scientific journal. He is now in big trouble regarding his professional position. Let's hear it for encouraging diversity!

Article #3

FDA is failing pill-popping Americans

Just a reminder for everyone to take care when taking any kind of medication, prescription or not. Make sure that the side effects are not worse than your original malady! Sometimes they are! Even some over-the-counter medications are coming under scrutiny, like naproxen and ibuprofen. I'm not sure I entirely trust the whole FDA approval process, and the ways drug companies do business. I don't think I know the whole story, and I know there are drugs that have saved a lot of people, but I think it pays to research well what you take and be wary. This has been a public service announcement by Amey. :-)

Article #4

Spelling bee nixed because it 'leaves child behind'

A school decided to not have a spelling bee because of all the children it "leaves behind". This way, ALL students can be equally terrible in spelling, and no one will have the incentive to work hard to win a prize. Yes, I recall how emotionally wounded I was when I lost the spelling bee(7th or 8th place, I think?). Just kidding. Actually, it was really no big deal, other than getting nervous when it was my turn to spell. I don't even remember my sister rubbing it in when she did win. Although, if she would have thought to rub it in, maybe she would have. haha.

Sewing news

I finished the jumper I was working on for my daughter. Before this I also made a nightgown for her (it is still too big, though), and also some curtains for the dining room window (which really do look nice, if I do say so myself). I made a few mistakes on the jumper, but they're not that obvious unless you really look closely. This time, it actually fits her! It's slightly big, so I'm wondering if she might be able to wear it next fall, too (I hope). It's navy blue corduroy, so it won't work for summer.

Working hard to make something like the jumper, and watching as it begins to take shape, is such satisfying work! I really enjoyed it! It's too bad that my time is so in demand. If it wasn't, I'd be completing all kinds of sewing projects, now that I have my feet wet. Of course, if my time wasn't in demand, I wouldn't have anyone to sew for. :-)

So maybe I was wrong

I read several pages of Son1's library book about Calvin and Hobbes when we first got it. It seemed ok. He's been reading it EVERY DAY. But I recently found out there are some expressions and vocabulary in it I'd rather my son not learn just yet, so I have decided that it is really not appropriate for a five-year-old. I was never that big of a Calvin and Hobbes fan, but I used to read it once in a while. I guess my memory must be failing me...

Encyclopedia Reader

My hero of the day: a 12-year-old who found several mistakes in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He brought the mistakes to the attention of the editors of the Encyclopedia, and they are "looking into it". I love it! :-)

I believe that the extra 'a' in encyclop(a)edia is the British spelling, yes? No 'a' is American.

Our Family

Our most recent interests, activities, and matters which consume our time:

Me - learning to sew. I just returned to sewing after a 2-month holiday break. I'm making a jumper for daughter. Just did my first zipper. It didn't turn out perfect, but it could have been worse. I'm having more trouble with the binding on the armholes. Also, reading catalogs of homeschool materials.

Husband - finding the cause of strange smells in the house and having to take time off work to do it. Also, many weather related "activities" (by which I mean - work).

Son #1 - Calvin and Hobbes, The Black Stallion (the movie, which I finally found). He's been watching the race scene at the end over and over, and has asked if he can have a horse. Also, next time he rides a carousel, he says he's going to ride the black horse.

Son #2 - Coloring. He's getting the hang of holding the colored pencils and staying in the lines, and now we have a whole gallery of pictures

Daughter - dancing to music, snuggling with Daddy, reaching for things on the table she's not allowed to have (brother's colored pencils)

Cheer Up!

Cheer up everyone! It's the most depressing day of the year! After today, things will only get better!

Education privitization

Here is a decent article about education. This writer (Neal McCluskey) writes in favor of giving vouchers to each family for each school age child following the disbanding of all public education, effectively privitizing education.

He says: "Thankfully, there is a way for all parents -- the phonics crowd, whole language enthusiasts, creationists, defenders of Darwinian dogmas, etc. -- to get their way: privatization. If governments were to let parents choose their children's schools, then fights over educational standards would disappear, becoming matters of consumer choice, not political power."

I would go even further: no government involvement whatsoever. That means no vouchers. Simply let parents educate their own children in the way they see fit. Ideally, this would bring a hefty tax cut for everyone, considering all the wasteful ways the government spends money allocated for education.

C

'C' recently took a brief hiatus from our family. For those of you who don't know or don't remember, 'C' is Son #2's beanie toy cat. He got it for his birthday last February and it became his favorite toy. Two weeks ago, the day after the power went out during the ice storm, I found Son #1 using 'C' as a racecar. The racetrack was the rim of a toilet. This was not even our toilet. I suppose you could call it a public toilet. Just plain gross.

'C' was placed in a plastic bag until earlier this week. Normally, a small stuffed toy like this would have been thrown in the trash. But as special as 'C' is, we just couldn't let that happen. My husband actually split 'C's seam in the back, took the stuffing and bean bag out, washed what was left, dried it, restuffed it (all fiberfill), then resewed it together. Wow. What a special cat. Long live 'C'.

Go Alabama!

I find the election of Tom Parker to Justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court extremely amusing. There's an account of the ceremony when Parker was sworn into office on Doug's Blog at the Vision Forum website. Mr. Parker previously "served as an advisor to former Chief Justice Roy Moore, and an officer of the Alabama Supreme Court,....(but)was fired from his job at the Court by Justice Gorman Houston, for Tom's support of Justice Moore and the biblical view of the rule of law. Tom proceeded to run for Alabama Supreme Court Justice and was resoundingly elected by the people of the state of Alabama. In a blessed turn-around, Tom unseated one of the very members of the Court complicit in the persecution of the Chief Justice and the removal of the Ten Commandments monument."

The people of Alabama elected a man to the Supreme Court of their state who holds to the same beliefs as Roy Moore! Not only that, but a recent poll shows that in a hypothetical primary race for the Republican nomination for governor between the current governor, Bob Riley, and Roy Moore, Moore would win easily. Pure entertainment! :-)

Quoted in the same link above (the poll), here's CONDESCENDING QUOTE OF THE DAY (from USA political scientist Keith Nicholls, who conducted the poll):

"The very idea that 70 percent of (Republicans support) a judge who was removed from office for placing himself above the law is truly shocking," he said. "I think it's pretty clear that they don't understand the concept of separation of church and state. But instead of educating the electorate regarding these most important tenets of democracy, our politicians continue to pander to the public for their own political gain."

Please, Mr. Nicholls, educate us on the concept of separation of church and state.

Our Virus Tally for the Season

Husband: 2 colds, 1 flu
Me: 2 colds, 2 flus
Son1: 2 colds, 2 flus
Son2: 2 colds, 1 flu
Daughter: 2 colds, 2 flus

Is 'flus' the plural for 'flu'? It looks like it should rhyme with 'plus'.

Chores for boys

We just started a new cycle of chore responsibilities. I encourage our 19-month-old daughter to help clean up the toys, but other than that, I don't expect her to do anything in the way of chores. Our almost 4-year-old is now learning to make his bed in the morning, and set the table for meals. He also folds the washcloths when we do laundry (he was already doing this). I'm still helping him get dressed, but I think four years old is about the cut-off for needing help getting dressed. I'm trying to transition him into being able to do it all on his own. He is improving when it comes time to pick up toys. We still need to make some progress there, though. My 5-1/2 year old son is starting to help me clear out the dishwasher, and also cleans off the table after meals. He has started putting his own clean clothes away, makes his bed, and helps with the toy pick up.

It is such a relief to have my boys starting to be old enough to make a difference when they help out. I think this is a significant part of their education - just being able to take care of themselves and their belongings, and doing a share of the household chores. Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth, just training them a little at a time. But looking back on how far we've come so far makes it all worth it. It's good for them, and it's also so helpful to me!

Cell phones for children

This article says that cell phones are a tumor risk to young children. I know there has been debate on whether or not cell phones are a health risk. There's a possibility they're not. But there's also a very good possibility they are. Apparently they are thought to cause tumors on the nerve leading from the the ear to the brain. They're not cancerous tumors. But who wants any kind of a tumor! This article suggests that you not allow children age 8 and under to use a cell phone, and that you use "parental discretion" for children 8-14. My question is, that if cell phones cause tumors in children, don't they also cause tumors in adults? What is special about the makeup of a child (compared to an adult) that would cause them to be prone to tumors (apart from their small size making a tumor of any size more important to treat)?

Off the Grid Part III

Our power is back on! It took over 5 days. After seeing the damage the ice caused, I am surprised that it didn't take longer. Those electric company workers were incredible! I can't believe the work they've done in the area over the last week. Absolutely fantastic.

Now for the clean up. My clean up won't be cleaning up the limbs and branches in the yard, though. Our house is a wreck. I'm glad I at least followed my new schedule for ONE DAY last week. One is more than zero, and something is better than nothing. It will take a few days to get back to "normal".

Here's a summary of the problems we had without power, starting with the worst:
1. Water. Without power, we couldn't run the pump for our well. I hope we can correct this problem so it won't be much of an issue in subsequent outages.
2. More reliable backup power for the freezer, refrigerator, and furnace. The generator we had did the job (barely), but it can't run all 3 at the same time. The kerosene heater worked fine, but the kerosene fumes were bothersome. Not to mention the danger of having the heater in the house with young children around.
3. Gasoline, kerosene, and propane storage. We had enough propane, but the stove we used worked out so well, we should probably keep more of it. The gasoline runs the generator, and with no power at gas stations, it would be difficult to get more of it in an emergency. Also, we got some kerosene at a local gas station that had a red dye in it. My husband says that this is not desirable.

We were very blessed that we were able to leave the house and go to places that did have power - for showers; water; and good, hot, food (I just love good food). If we would have been house bound, there would have been more critical issues than there were. God is good, and maybe he gave us this time to help us learn what things we need to do to better prepare for emergencies. We're working on it! :-)

Birthday party themes

For January: mixers
For February: volcanoes
For May: cowboys

Let's party! I can't wait!

Off the Grid Part II

We ran out of water last night. Of course that would be the night our lovely 19-month-old daughter would decide to vomit two times. How insensitive of her. Just kidding, of course. Our poor little girl. She vomitted during the night, but we didn't know it. She didn't cry or anything. Just slept in it for several hours until we checked on her and discovered a mess with no water to clean up with. We went to Grandma's house for a bath this morning. So far today she is doing much better.

My genius husband now has the generator hooked up to the furnace, so no more kerosene heater. Hip hip hooray! Now the furnace, freezer, and refrigerator take turns getting the power.

I saw an electrical bucket truck down the road today in town. We're outside of town, so I don't expect we'll get power yet today, but maybe sometime in the next few days? I certainly hope it's fixed before the next big cold front comes through later this week.

I am amazed at how much water it takes to flush a toilet. It takes almost 2 gallons! We've been using about 4 gallons of water per day for cleaning. This doesn't include baths/showers we've taken away from home. So we need at least 8 gallons per day other than drinking water, just for cleaning and flushing. I've also discovered that eggs cook great on a propane stove top. Those little things work great! I can see why some people won't part with their gas stoves.

I have learned in the last week that it does pay to be prepared for emergencies like this. We were prepared a little, but we could be even better prepared. I just recently read an article on the possible disaster that would be caused by electromagnetic pulse generated from an atomic blast in the air. I know most people think that those who are well-prepared for disasters are nuts, and I admit that most extreme emergency scenarios that these people come up with are not likely to happen, but if something really bad happened, the nuts would be the ones still alive.

Life off of the"grid", Part I

Here we are at day 4 of life off of the grid. Wednesday and Thursday morning we had a massive ice storm which destroyed most of our trees and left us without power. This post is actually generator-powered. Our power went out a little after 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon while I was in the middle of making dinner. It's interesting to see how prepared you are for a natural disaster like this. Fortunately, the roads are not icy, so it is not that big of a deal. We can leave our house when we like.

We didn't lose our chicken and beef in the freezer, due to my husband's big Y2K purchase: a generator in our basement that hadn't yet been taken out of the box. Hurray for Y2K! That would have been a big deal to lose all that food. Right now the generator is running the computer, 2 electric lights, the refrigerator, freezer, and my husband's 90 decibel alarm clock (well, it's probably not really THAT loud, but at 6 in the morning it seems like it is). We have a kerosene heater which is incredibly heating the ENTIRE HOUSE (1976 sq. feet), and a camp stove that runs on propane. The only thing we lack that we really need is running water. I predict that Grandma (who does have power now) will soon get a visit from us so we can fill up our water bottles.

Our poor trees are practically decimated (and that is no exaggeration), but I'm so thankful to the Lord that we are all well and safe. Also thankful to a certain sister's provision of a hot delicious meal and a shower last night! :-)

The Best Laid Plans...

Over the weekend I revised our homeschool schedule, and Monday we had a great day. Everything went according to schedule, and I was very disciplined with my time. The schedule is mainly for me, not for the children, because I can be hopelessly undisciplined with my time. Yesterday morning I got up early enough to get started with my new schedule, and wouldn't you know it, injury overtook my good intentions. I had taken our Christmas tree apart and it was lying on the bedroom floor, waiting to go back into the box which was up in the attic. As I was walking to the closet I stubbed my big toe on the metal edge of the "trunk" of the tree. Talk about pain! It felt like I had ripped my entire toe off! What a mess. I'm sure you want to hear the details about all the blood dripping everywhere, and 1/3 of my toenail needing to be snipped off, but I'll spare you. I spent over an hour just trying to stop the bleeding, then once it stopped, I was afraid to put any pressure on it at all because I didn't want it to start bleeding again. Needless to say, my schedule was not in force yesterday, nor is it today, as we were up too late again last night, and the children are all still in bed. Tomorrow my dear dear husband has a day off work (he has had 5 days off since Thanksgiving: one was Christmas, 2 were due to the snowstorm, one a Christmas concert, and the last a family dinner), so I doubt we'll have a schedule then. Maybe Friday???

An article on girls with brains

Clever devils get the bird
This is an interesting article I would like to comment on, but don't have time to do that now. Needless to say, there's plenty I could say about it. Mainly, I just want to record the link so that I don't forget about it (our bookmarks are about worthless).

Another viewpoint on disaster aid

I have found myself thinking this very thing a number of times since the tsunami disaster in Asia. This is a well-written "other-side-of-the-coin" article by Constitution Party presidential candidate Michael Peroutka, whom I almost voted for in November. Maybe next time I will.

A DISCLAIMER

I felt that after I posted my last entry I should qualify what I wrote about feminine dress. This is a great way of expressing femininity, but I realize that not everyone agrees with me. I'm not down on anyone who disagrees. Obviously I think I'm right, or I would not hold this opinion (that's what opinions are, right? If we didn't believe they were true they wouldn't be opinions). However, I am not a judgmental person, and I do not take notes on who wears what every time I see them. I just enjoy expressing my opinions in writing. This really applies to about everything I write in this blog. Maybe I should repost this entry once in a while, just to remind everyone that I don't expect that you will always agree with me. And if you disagree, maybe we could have a friendly debate in the comments section if you are interested. My feelings will not be hurt if you disagree, and I hope your feelings will not be hurt if you think I'm a raving lunatic. I am not personally insulting you. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail if you have something to say about a topic I bring up. Maybe it will give me something to think about. And maybe what I have to say will give you something to think about. It's a good way to sharpen one another and use the brains God gave us. :-)