News From the Front

It's snowing. Like we need more snow. Oh, it's nice for my daughters and all that, it's just such a struggle to keep our driveway clear, and driving is difficult enough already with all the big piles of snow lying 'round. I want, I need to get out of the house, but I'm having problems finding ways to do it. And with all this white stuff, I'm become less and less motivated to get out, despite the fact that it would do me a lot of good! I guess I'm just blue.

My husband got me a few nice pressies for Valentine's Day, including an insulated cup, so I can take hot chocolate with me anywhere I go. I'm just not a coffee or a tea person. I have way too much of a taste for sweets. Things that my husband declares are way too sweet, I suck down without a problem. And Barb, I'm putting you on notice. I will be watching this cup when you are around. Susan, I'd worry about you if you were closer. Or I was closer to you! (shuts eyes and dreams of Florida)

Where was I? Anyway, there's some interpersonal stuff I'm struggling with right now, but I can't really talk about that, since it doesn't concern just me. Let's just say I feel like a fish out of water right now. Not sure where I fit in, where I belong. That tends to happen to me. I think I have good relationships, and then things seem to unravel, and I'm not sure why. My doctor also put me on some new medication that knocked me out all night and most of today, and caused me to have a long string of really strange dreams. (grumbles at doctor)

Grumble, grumble. Even something like ice skating is difficult right now, considering how far away the nice rinks are and how crowded the rink(s) are likely to be when I can take the girls along. And I love ice skating. For me, it's the closest thing to flying. Maybe I should dig a spot out in the back yard and run the hose for a while... (shuts eyes and dreams of ice skating.) And no, that's not me ice skating!

For right now, I'm hanging in there the best I can, surfing the net on my laptop and cranking music out of WinAmp that my husband just installed for me. And soon, I will be sampling hot chocolate-y chip goodness out of the oven. Yum. Hot chocolate chip cookies. What could be better on a cold day?

I've Got a Bridge I'd Like to Sell You

Put this in the d'oh department.

On the Road

I had to venture out today, because the Scientist and I had doctors appointments. Wildchild loves doctors appointments, because she gets to sit in the kids' waiting area and watch kids shows until we are done.

The roads were not too bad today, especially the main roads. I was a little nervous leaving our street because I had to pull out blind. You can't see the left side of the street you go out onto right now past the big pile of snow. I was also surprised on the way home, when the four line highway right by our house suddenly into a three lane highway. The fourth lane was blocked by a gigantic mound of snow. Our driveway could also stand to be in better shape, despite a kind neighbor using his snowblower on part of it. It drifted pretty badly over that part of the drive.

I try not to talk about my mental ordeals too often, because some of my family thinks I'm a nutcase as it is, and they dismiss me as hopeless at the same time as they are telling me to just get myself together. Well, they were when I was still talking to them... Anyway, I just wanted to share that I'm taking a new direction in my struggles, with my doctor's help. That's a good thing. Sometimes I'm not sure I really want to hope again, when I've felt so many times that things would never get better. I guess Christians are just used to living in hope, huh?

Winter Is Here

with a vengeance. Last night.


This morning.


My husband called his supervisor to tell him he would work from home today because he couldn't get out of the driveway. Supervisor said he's also working at home today for the same reason. I don't think anyone has left our street today. Is it strange that I am thinking about the financial impact this might cause? I bet not as many people will be going out for dinner tonight. And if you waited until the last minute to get your sweetheart something for Valentine's Day, you might be in trouble...

A Little Silliness

For a miserably cold, windy, snowy day. It feels like -9 outside, or -20 Celsius for my non-U.S.A. buds. :) I wanted to go out, but it's too cold to do so. Will I be stuck at home forever???

Happy Hearts Day

So all you chicks reading this blog, are you expecting anything from your boyfriend or husband tomorrow? Do you like to celebrate Valentine's Day? Or do you look at it as just another holiday thought up by the greeting card companies?

Husbands and boyfriends, does tomorrow fill you with dread? Do you know you're expected to come through with something to commemorate the day, but you know already it won't be good enough?

The cynical part of me wants to think tomorrow is just a day for florists to make extra money. The prideful, independent part of me wants to think that of course my husband and I don't need to do anything for Valentine's Day. We know we love each other, right?

However, there's the other part of me that knows that marriage is important, and wants to nurture it. Not that this needs to be done with expensive gifts or a fancy dinner. But why not celebrate love, on the day that is ostensibly all about love?

The International Women's Forum is promoting tomorrow as a day to Take Back the Date. Sounding very much in line with the premise about modern culture featured in The Thrill of the Chaste, the IWF's research has found that "college relationships are more often nothing more than awkward drunken make-out sessions." Ones that don't lead to anything further, but fill an inner longing, at least for a moment. So in contrast to modern feminists who want to make Valentine's Day all about their private areas, the IWF encourages women to let men act like gentlemen, for men to take women out on dates that involve more than the physical, to buy them flowers, open doors for them. Even to ask a guy out yourself if you are interested in him.

Yes, I know my husband loves me. But I like being taken care of by my husband. I like that he has chocolate stashes hidden away for me for those bad days. I like it that he will make me up a big chocolate milkshake, with chocolate shavings and an attractive dusting of cocoa powder, for those extra bad days. However he shows his love for me tomorrow, I need to appreciate it, and be thankful to God, that He brought us together and helps keep us together, and to my husband, that he wants to make me happy and take care of me. (Although, since my husband works for a major greeting card company, with a large greeting card store right inside the building, that ALSO offers fresh flowers, he really has no excuse. Love ya, hon!)

Women, we also need to take care of our men. They may not want a large bouquet or flowery card, but we can and should show our husbands that we love them. Maybe lots of big hugs, or a bottle of scotch. :)

Of course we should be showing love every day! But we're human; we all have bad days when we're grumpy or sick or tired or stressed. Why not take advantage of a day made to show love, and really show the man or woman in our life that we care? God is love, after all. Let's enjoy the gift that God has given to us, of loving and being loved.

Birthday Girls

Okay, they're going to kill me, and I know that at least one of my sisters-in-law reads here now, but Happy Birthday to my two sisters-in-law, Faith today, and Hope yesterday. Here's hoping they both enjoyed their special day. Even though we can't see each other as much as we would like, my in-laws are always there when you need them. I can't believe how quickly the years have gone by. Hope and I recently decided we met for the first time about seventeen years ago. Glad I married into the family!

For the Presbytera

And anyone else who likes purple, really.

You Are Lavender

You are a sweet person with a very soft personality. People become easily entranced with you. They seem to glow around you. You have a quiet energy that can keep you active late into the night. Even if you aren't the life of the party, you definitely keep the party going.

What Color Purple Are You?

This Is Really Good

Monty Python Holy Grail. Done in LEGO brand building blocks.

Help Me Understand This

This article in Newsweek (via NewsBusters) caught my eye because it focuses on the Greater Cleveland area, where I happen to live. However, what I seem to get out of it is: "America is in trouble because we don't have enough socialist programs, the minimum wage is too low, and it's all the fault of the eeeevil George Bush." Otherwise, I don't really know what the point of this article is.

Let's start with the sub-title: "For the first time, poverty shifts to the U.S. suburbs." For the first time? Sorry, I don't buy that. To begin with, the two families discussed in the story are facing hard times because the wage earner(s) in the family are currently out of work. Yeah, I grew up in one of the nicest suburbs in Greater Cleveland, and we went through a lot of hard times when my father was out of work, too. In the end, my father ended up starting his own business because he couldn't find a job, and that left our family financially straitened for a time. To be honest, our family was never well-off. The only thing my family splurged on was a parochial school education for my two sisters and I. I'm not sure what the financial threshold was in the early 80's, but when I was attending high school, we even went through a time where I was eligible for free lunches at school, and we also received some food from the government.

Moving on to the first paragraph, we discover that our first token victim was making almost double what our Democratic saviors in Congress want to change the minimum wage to. So changing the minimum wage would help him how? Oh wait, his real problem is that he has no "safety net." No nearby food pantry, job retraining center or low-cost health clinic. Oh, how can those evil Republicans be so cruel? Okay, he was a 38-year-old fork-lift operator. Maybe he should have working on increasing his skills on his own before then? Or does that just make me cold-hearted? On top of the other problems, public transportation is "inadequate." I suppose we should just create a public transportation system that runs through every little nook and cranny of the suburbs, whether or not it is economically viable. We can just take the money out of taxes, after all. Then it won't matter whether the system makes money! After all, this poor man couldn't get a job in another suburb because the bus ride would be three hours each way. But he already has (or had) a car, and if he got a new job, couldn't he afford gas and car insurance again? Or at least after he'd been working for a while?

Then we move on to find out that for the first time, more Americans in poverty live in the suburbs than cities. This is a little different than the article's sub-title implies, and it only makes sense, at least in the Cleveland area. The city of Cleveland has long been built-up, while there has been lots of building in the suburbs. The house where I grew up, in which my mother still lives, has long since ceased to be "stylish" and the neighborhood does not house the same economic class as it did when I grew up. People have moved on to bigger, newer houses, further and further out. This can be seen as unfortunate, but unless we want to dictate to people where they can live, it will happen.

Next, we find out that the nation's manufacturing sector is "contracting," whatever that means. We don't get an explanation of why this is happening, however. Perhaps because our country has chased out much of its manufacturing, with high taxes and complicated laws?

Our next victim family ran into problems after only one month, when the mother was laid off of her job at a grocery store, and the father missed a month of work with a heart attack. From when my sister worked at a grocery store, I know grocery store workers usually make more than minimum wage rather quickly, so again raising the minimum wage would be moot here. And again, this is a family going through difficult times, for less than three months when this article was written. I would classify this very differently from "poverty." My husband could not find a job in his field for eight months during 2002, and things were very difficult for us financially. But we're doing our best now to recover and get ahead. And we live in the suburbs!

I can't even begin to comprehend this "living wage" versus "minimum wage" nonsense. As I pointed out already, none of the people above were likely to have been making minimum wage anyway. So were they making a "living wage"?

Every family will go through hard times when unemployment hits, and it will probably hit every family at some point. But this article offers no real hope at all, nothing but a sad picture of how hard life is without a socialist "safety net." Can we get a story next time about families who are making it?

Why a Third Party May Not Make It

Because people are too invested in themselves. Clayton Cramer (scroll down to Feb 7) marvels how Professor Volokh, of the Volokh Conspiracy, can claim to be a libertarian and yet defend making the HPV virus mandatory. Basically, what it boils down to is that people want to have the ability, as one commenter put it, to "screw like rabbits with a coke habit" without consequences. It's not enough for people to, you know, limit their sexual activities, perhaps even remain virgins until marriage. Or take the consequences for their own actions. Nope, we all have to get a vaccine, so that the disease can be wiped out and people can think they're safe while they keep doing whatever they want to do.

Yes, there are people who are against vaccines, period. Let's put that aside, if we can, for the moment. There are people out there who not only want mandatory vaccinations, paid for by the public, that have not been adequately tested for those in the target mandatory group, but some commenters there want minors to be able to get the vaccine without their parents' knowledge or permission. We as parents apparently don't have "rights" over our children. Just the responsibility to feed them, clothe them, house them, educate them, pay for any mishaps they do get into getting an abortion, contracting a disease, whatever. As the Chaplain wrote, man is not perfectible. People are showing an increasing willingness to dive headfirst down the slippery slope, and I don't think there's much chance of pulling the country back. Am I a wee bit cynical? Probably. But if you're going to argue I am, I need some really compelling reasons why.

Balancing Act

Yeah, you've heard it before. You live it. I'm just trying to do better at my current responsibilities, such as teaching the girls, keeping up with the house, running errands. I'm trying to spend more time with my husband and have just fun time with my children. I'm also trying to take better care of myself, and exercise. I'm also trying to do more fun things I enjoy. Think that's enough? (big grin) I can't do everything, can I? Can I?

The Thrill of the Chaste

Tonight I was privileged to meet Dawn Eden, author of The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On. I have been reading Dawn's blog off and on for several years, and her blog is where I first heard about her book. Although Dawn and I are the same age, we are in very different places in our lives, but reading descriptions and excerpts from her book struck a chord with me. Unlike Dawn, I was brought up in the Christian faith by my parents, specifically Lutheranism. However, I had my own struggles living the chaste life. My parents' marriage fell apart just as I started college, leaving my mother absorbed in her own problems and cynical about men. I have always had a messed-up relationship with my father; I don't know if it can ever be healed in this life. Everything I've learned about men, I've mostly had to learn through the patient tutelage of my husband. Despite troubled family relationships, I know I am responsible for everything I have done wrong; thanks be to God that Jesus took the punishment for all of my sins. This is just my long way of explaining my interest in her book despite thirteen and a half years as a happily married woman; due to my own past, I seek a deeper understanding of living a life of chastity when it is part of God's will for us. And as the mother of two young girls, I would like to be able to really be able to talk to my daughters as they go through adolescence and young adulthood, and say more than "Don't do it until marriage, because God says so."

Dawn spoke tonight at St. Therese Church in Garfield Heights, and was sponsored by Fr. John Valencheck and St. Rose Young Adult Group. I felt a little bit strange there, 'cause, well, I'm not Catholic. However, I know we share many common beliefs as Christians, including a belief that God's gift of sexual intimacy is only meant for marriage. And since I've read Dawn's blog for so long and had an interest in her book, I wanted to take this opportunity to meet her IRL. :)

I also got to meet local blogger Saint Kansas; both he and Dawn were very nice and welcoming. He worked with Dawn on the YouTube video you can watch here. I'm hoping I'll get to meet Saint Kansas (and his wife?) sometime again in this great city.

And let me give a shout-out to Lilac Rose, aka Susan B. I know I found St. Kansas' blog via hers, and I'm pretty sure her blog is how I found Dawn's. Someday I hope to meet her in person as well.

And for Dawn, Saint Kansas, and anyone else who stops in, here once again is the origin of my blog name! It's based on an online quiz which sadly is no longer available. However, you can read about it in this post and following comments at baldilock's place. Here's a summary of me: You are an SEDF--Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you an evil genius. You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting.

Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well--even those you have known a long time--because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable.

You are not to be messed with. You may explode.
---------------------------------------------------------
Since the above is all too accurate, I started calling myself the Evil Genius, and thus this blog! Don't you feel better now that you know?

This Is Awesome

As in the sense of inspiring awe. What a beautiful thing God's creation is. This pic is the Astronomy Picture of the Day, but I am linking directly to the photographer's website so the pic can be seen after today. I remember once seeing a thunderstorm coming in over Lake Erie, and it was a beautiful sight, but nothing like this once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Fireworks, lightning and a comet in one place.

You might want to bookmark the APOD. It's especially nice for those keenly interested in stars, black holes, nebulas, planets, all those fascinating things out there.

Hibernation

So right now it is 3 degrees Fahrenheit here, or -16 for you Celsius folks. Brrr. Schools and daycares are canceled all over Northeast Ohio, and I imagine lots of parents had to take off work to stay home with the kids normally at school or daycare. It is indeed a great day to curl up in a warm comforter with a mug of hot chocolate nearby. Hope all of you living up here in the Great White North are taking care of yourselves and your loved ones. Today's weather is only fit for...

Don't Say I Never Gave You Anything

So who's taking me out for ice cream? :)

For the Scientist

Since my daughter is a Colts fan (because they have a horse name), here are a couple of videos for her.


This one has a former Survivor cast member in it.

Da Bearsss

Until the Super Bowl actually starts, here's something for you to watch!

The Amplified Bears Super Bowl Shuffle:

Birthdays and Such

Today was One of Those Days. For the adults, anyway. But I think Wildchild had a good day, and that is the important thing, in the end. What would a birthday be without pizza,

cake (ice cream cake, difficult to cut)

and prezzies (winking at Kate.)

The Wildchild brought excitement to our lives right away, when it was discovered that she was sideways and needed to be delivered by C-section. This is why I am wearing the cap in the picture; I was still in the recovery room.

The Scientist loved her new little sister.

She was baptized so she could become a daughter in God's family as well.

Since then our family has made a lot of great memories together, and we are thankful for the happiness we have had.

What-ev-er

Well, following a very spirited political discussion, you can still color me unimpressed. Of course, that's my opinion, but then, this is my blog. :) If I want throat-cutting, back-biting, devious, scheming sharks, I think I'll stick with Ugly Betty.

Tomorrow will be very busy, between a homeschool field trip and celebrating Wildchild's birthday. What really matters.

Babylon, via Deutschland

Imagine that all that stuff I did when I was young might actually have some use someday! Well, in school we are studying ancient history, and I have a map of Mesopotamia for class. I noticed the design at the top of the map and realized it was inspired by the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. Wait, I've seen the Ishtar Gate reconstructed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin! Hey, I can show my pictures to the girls! Maybe they will be impressed that their mommy has seen it. Well, I can always dream, can't I? Hopefully these pics will at least help reinforce the lesson. I'd like to share some with you.

Somewhere Out There

Okay, don't get me wrong. I'm not really happy with the current political scene in this country. I look at the Democrats as being closet socialists, and the Republicans have become committed to spending more and more of our money, and don't have the gumption to push through important legislation, like overhauling Social Security. As I've said before, I don't really enjoy politics, but since I have to live by the government's laws, I try to pay as much attention as I can stomach.

While I'm not happy with either major party, I'm not sure I see third parties as an option either, and I happened to see that Michael Medved agrees, at least concerning the Libertarian party, in his Townhall article today. These people are seen as losers, who can't mobilize an adequate base. If so many people are so unhappy with current leadership (and it seems we are, from all the complaining I hear and read), then why can't third parties make more traction in the political realm? I don't know the overall answer, but I do know that no third party seems to represent me well enough either, especially when I know right now they don't have the votes to get elected.

The Constitution Party seems to have some good ideas, on paper. But reading things like this, this, and this, concern me. I don't want America to become a "Christian nation." I think freedom of religion is a good thing. I understood at the time that it was very, very unlikely that a draft would be re-instituted. What politician could survive voting for that? And lastly, I'm not very big on the whole agrarian society model. I'm sure some issues on these pages could have been mis-represented, but overall it is still enough to give me pause.

Lastly, I do think if an alternative political party really wants to make a difference, it needs to start on a local level. Get known in your community, talk to others around you about what you think is important and see what they say. If you can't make a difference on a local level, how can you on a national one?

The Title of This Article Seems to Ring a Bell

Here's the article. Although we'd deal slightly differently with would-be bad guys at my church, I imagine. Still, good to see people fighting back instead of meekly giving in. Article discovered at Lucianne.

Christmas in January

We were finally able to get together with my in-laws today for Christmas. The best part was watching the girls get the gifts that we, the parents, have known for ages they were getting, and have had to keep biting our tongues not to spoil the surprises. Here is Wildchild holding up one of her gifts. Unfortunately you can't really see in this picture the new pearl earrings she received from her grandmother. She also got some Cinderella earrings from her aunt. She likes Cinderella. Yes, she really does.

The best thing of all was watching the Scientist as she opened the envelope containing a gift certificate for four horseback riding lessons, from the stables where the girls rode horses during an open house last year. The Scientist was beside herself with joy, and couldn't stop giggling. That is, when she could breathe. And now her father and I don't have to worry about making ourselves bleed anymore. It's been so hard hearing "Whenever I get to take horseback riding lessons..." for the past couple of months.

Some great memories made today.

Rock Out!

One of my husband's co-workers is a member of a two-man band named 2nd Half. My husband and I were able to go out last night and hear them play, and we had a really good time. I'm posting a couple of pictures from last night; the drummer is Drew and the guitarist and singer is Ed, who works with my husband. I did take some video, which I am hoping to get uploaded soon. In the meantime, you can hear some of their music here and here.


Oh, and hey, I felt like we were partying like it was 1989! I'm sure some of the outfits I saw last night were ripped right out of the closets of kids I went to high school with. At least, the burn-outs. One last cultural point, 5 Evil Genius points to the person who can tell me what movie Cobra Kai comes from. Or meet up with us the next time we go to see 2nd Half, and I'll buy you a drink. I'll give more clues later on if nobody guesses.

Poverty Is Not Cute!!

Via Lucianne, I found this article by Mary Katherine Ham that makes me want to scream, makes me want to spit at every enviro-whacko in sight, makes me so angry that my hands can hardly stop shaking enough to type properly. How dare they? How dare those pretentious, snobbish glassbowls talk about great it must be to live in poverty? How dare they talk about how charming it is to use a horse and cart, how they are proud to have a horse? Well, in the area of Eastern Europe my grandmother and her family fled, they were happy to have a cow. Because they had a better chance to put food on the table, not because of some environmentalist's wet dream!!

Maybe it's wrong that I feel this more personally, because as I mentioned not that long ago, some of my ancestors came to America from an area very close to that discussed in the article. My great-grandparents' descendants could still be living in a hellhole, instead of enjoying the gifts of freedom to create wealth and make their own choices. Still, there's an ongoing tradition of the wealthy and powerful "bleeding hearts" working so hard on making themselves feel good, while hurting at worst and ignoring at best those whom they claim to care about so much. (h/t Ace.) So perhaps sometimes a problem so pervasive needs to hit you personally.

What also disturbs me here, is that these idiots are not just rhapsodizing about how wonderful it must be to live in filth and use outdoor toilets in freezing cold weather. No, they're getting their noses out of the air long enough to butt them in and do their best to prevent something that would actually help the people in the area. Even one of the Chaplain's reads, the Daily Reckoning, thinks the mining project could be a great investment if it was ever actually allowed to get off the ground. But no, the people there should live by selling woven baskets and wood carvings to tourists. Yeah.

Ironically, do you know when mining did the worst damage to the area? During the Soviet era. Yep, during the socialist paradise that all these nutjobs want to bring back. Considering my trip to West and East Berlin right after the Berlin Wall fell, I can easily believe this. West Berlin was a thriving, modern city. East Berlin was burning brown coal for fuel and still hadn't gotten around to rebuilding a lot of the damaged areas left over from WWII. Not very environmentally friendly to have brown coal dust coating the streets and the buildings. There were areas in East Berlin where nothing would grow anymore due to the pollution. Not the way I want to live. And the more I learn about the evil out there, and the stupid who mindlessly assist the evil, the more I want to fight back to keep them from destroying my dreams, or the dreams of my children. If only the poor around the world could get this chance as well.

A Change of Pace

So, I was surfing around YouTube while looking for something in particular, and I found this television clip. If you don't want to watch, basically it's a discussion of the current trend of college women's basketball teams having members of the men's team scrimmage with the women's team during practices, and the pros and cons thereof.

I don't talk about sports too much, although I enjoy rooting for Cleveland professional sports teams, as much as one can enjoy watching your team find ways to lose. My body is definitely not made for serious athletic pursuits, and my daughters have other aptitudes as well. But as far as basketball goes, I've always had a fondness for girls' high school basketball. This is probably partially because my mother played basketball herself for Lutheran High, back when girls were only allowed to play half court ball, so as not to strain their delicate constitutions.(!) Also, I attended Lutheran West High School, where the girls' basketball coach, Karen Wittrock, is the winningest girls' basketball coach in the state of Ohio, with over 600 wins and less than 200 losses.

This video, however, offers some interesting things to think about beyond the realm of females playing basketball. For starters, the coaches talk about how it is great for the women to be playing basketball against the men, because the men are "bigger, stronger and faster." Okay, hold on. Aren't women and men supposed to be absolutely equal in every single way already? No?

It also brings up issues related to Title IX, wherein legislators attempted to create desired results by mandate, in this case, making sure women had absolutely the exact same opportunities to play absolutely the exact same sports as men, whether the women want to or not. Of course the result, as so often happens when legislators try to force their own visions to come to pass via a law, seems in my not so humble opinion to have hurt more than it helped. For updates on the follies of Title IX, the International Women's Forum seems to be the best go-to site I have found. In the case of the issue we're currently discussing, the argument is that benefits to women athletes from Title IX are being erased, as second-string women's players get less playing time while the first-string women are playing against the guys. As is to be expected from a brief television blurb, this issue is not resolved adequately. One coach says, actually, all the women get more playing time under this new practice. This makes no sense to me, since who would the first-string women be scrimmaging against, if not the second-string women, if the men were not there?

Overall, I found this issue intriguing because the thing I like about women's basketball, particularly at the high school level, is that it is different from men's basketball. Women are different from men, and while I think women can excel in athletic pursuits, women are different physically and this may result in different things. Women's softball has its differences from men's baseball. Women figure skaters have cut back on the relentless pursuit for more rotations in jumps, opting for difficulty in combination jumps instead. Jumps require a certain level of upper body strength to muscle the body through the jump, and men do have the advantage in this area. I saw all the serious knee and ankle injuries to the girls who played basketball while I was in high school, and I wonder if the goal of playing more like men will only make this worse, or if better conditioning and new conditioning techniques will offset this. While I don't think girls should be limited to half-court ball, and I like the idea of girls and women in basketball being more aggressive for the rebound or on defense, I don't think changing their style of play to be exactly like men is something that should be striven for. Anyone else out there have an opinion?

Looking Up

Well, I've been sick the past couple days, but I'm feeling better and ready to start attacking life again. The girls and I have become addicted to hot chocolate, and now that there is snow on the ground, I think we can put the croquet set in the front hallway away. Ya think?

Since the Quipper has already alerted people to this, I'll just add that Euphoric Reality has been busily following up on the case, and has had their website hacked to boot. Bloggers. Doing the jobs MSM journalists won't do.

Peace

Ahh, peace, sweet peace. The kind of peace you get when you're really, really exhausted, so that your body kind of shuts down and you don't care about anything except the feel of the blanket around you and your head on the soft pillow. There is a slight nagging worry about why you've been feeling constantly tired lately, but you can push that away, for now. Restful for the mind, bad for blogging.

I'm glad the Bears made it into the Super Bowl, because my sister-in-law is thrilled about that. She's been a Bears fan for ages. Now if only this mojo thing I have going (the Cards, the Bears) would work for one of my teams! Or maybe I need to find someone else with mojo to root for my teams.

Is This Winter?

These white things, flying through the air, what are they? I vaguely remember seeing them about a year ago.

My daughters remembered what to do with snow!

They also found some other ways to beat the winter blues. Thanks a lot, Die-Hard Equestrian! Only, not! :)


Well, next week is a fresh week. I *will* get more accomplished!

I Hate Germs

I want to post pictures of my beautiful life, like Kate. Unfortunately, a cold bug seems to have found my family. Right now, my beautiful life involves wanting lots of sleep. Ugh. I hate being sick. When I'm trying so hard to improve things around here, it feels like a major setback, not a minor illness. Could you all post really, really interesting things to read while I'm recovering? I'll try to get back to the "beautiful life" thing tomorrow.

We Miss You, Ronnie

This video is so applicable to where we are, today, that it is scary. I'm putting the video here where you can see it, but I watched it first posted at CUANAS, via The Anchoress. It doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy; rather it makes me feel this fight called life is worth something.

Sweet!

Wouldn't this get you some looks at the range? Isn't it a purty, purty Bersa? And I have some acrylic paint right here at home.... Okay, I know Jack Bauer wouldn't carry this. I know the Chaplain wouldn't carry this. I wonder if the Pistol Packin' Presbytera would carry this, if it were more of a purple pistol?? (Say "Pistol Packin' Presbytera's purple pistol" three times fast. Ha!) Anybody else think they could survive a day at the range using this? And although the bullets are no longer functional (the paint means they will no longer chamber), yes, the gun itself is still operational. However, since the proud owner does not want to go to the trouble necessary to carefully clean this work of art after using it, the Bersa and bullets are mounted in a glass case. You can see more pictures if you scroll down through the discussion here.

Oh My Nerves

I don't think I can stand this 24 thing. Between yelling over and over at the TV screen, "Don't cooperate with the terrorists!!" and wanting to reach through the TV screen and bitchslap Sandra "My boyfriend is more important than the fact that they're going to nuke L.A." Palmer, I want to go beat something up now. I'm stressed! I want to watch TV for relaxation, mindless entertainment! Help!

Bird Is the Word

I know a lot of you watch 24, so I'm sure you'll find this story teh coolness. It's about a giant owl that could devour a fox or a small deer, has a five foot wingspan, and has gone after people. My husband especially loves birds of prey: owls, falcons, hawks, eagles. He found it really funny when, at an aviary in Germany, an owl flew at him and got a claw far enough out of his enclosure to make my husband's forehead bleed. So I agree with Andrea. I want one.

One-Upmanship

Now that one needs to have had a child to have a legitimate argument, where can we take it from here? Let's see, I suppose having a son of military age gives you the most moral authority. Unless, you know, your son is actively serving in the military and you support him. Or your son died in service for his country, and you don't hate the president, and are proud of your son's service.

So where can we go from there? Number of children? Difficulty/length of deliveries? Difficulty during pregnancy? Mastitis? Spent lots of nights sitting up with sick children? Maybe we should come up with some kind of point system. A Caesarian gets you so many points, morning sickness all nine months gets you so many points. I'm feeling full of moral authority already.

I Am a Great-Aunt

Tyler Lloyd, born at 1:22 PM, 8 pounds, 2 ounces. Born to my husband's niece. Hopefully I'll be getting pictures soon. Ack. I'm old.

Update: I apologize for the size, but here you go.

Going to the Dark Side?

Even though I've never seen an episode of 24, I've had so much fun with the Jack Bauer hype that I'm actually considering watching Season 6. Like I need another thing to be addicted to! I think everybody should participate in Talk Like Jack Bauer Day, however. Just 'cause it sounds like fun. And Jack Bauer will hurt you if you don't.

Just remember, when bad things happen to good people, it's probably fate. When bad things happen to bad people, it's probably Jack Bauer.

Turning Back Time

Anybody want to go in with me on buying this beautiful property? I know my husband has always wanted to live in a home with a secret passage, or even passages! I think it would be absolutely fascinating to live there. On top of the fact that it is a gorgeous old castle with lots of history, although its ties to Vlad are questionable, it is very near to where my ancestors lived for what was probably hundreds of years. Of course, I read on this site that Brasov, the city nearest Bran Castle, had its inhabitants of Germanic (like mine) and Jewish ancestry largely driven out. But the city of Mediasch would be fairly near by, and I know that this is where my grandfather's people came from.

I know that my ancestors did the right thing in fleeing the Old World. Since I am only a third-, or in some cases second-generation American, I know very well that the conditions my great-grandparents and grandparents left behind were harsh, with little room for improvement. Still, I feel a little ache of what could almost be described as loneliness, looking at pictures of a city where people of my flesh and blood once lived. Where did they live when they were there? What exactly were their lives like? Strange to think that if all those people had not come from places as far apart as Eastern Europe and Ireland, that I would not exist today!

I Think I'm in Love

I just hope I don't have to travel to Japan to ride a roller coaster like this. For those of you who can't or don't want to view the YouTube video at the bottom of the page, each set of seats on the train swings independently of the others. I've seen computer-generated video of a roller coaster like this, but this is the first one I've seen IRL.

For "live" fun a little bit closer to home (at least for me! ;) ), check out these POV videos of Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Magnum XL200 and Raptor. Ah, Cedar Point dreams... May 12 isn't that far away!!

Just a Tip

I know many of us who have school-age children may be giving at least a little thought as to colleges for them. Well, this list might give you a few ideas where not to send them. I got enough "Should Marx Be Given Another Chance" crap in E. Germany. Their civilization was falling into ruins around them (literally) and still it was, "But we could do it right this time!" Bleah.

Via the Independent Women's Forum.

Slow Sunday

So here I am, feeling tired and hung-over. And I have so not had any alcohol since the hot-chocolate-with-caramel-liqueur that my husband made for me New Year's Eve. I hope I can work things out for me from a physical standpoint.

If Cleveland is the poorest major city in the nation, why are we the first city in America where the top three news stations broadcast in HD? I assume there must be a market, as in enough people in the Cleveland viewing area have HD, wouldn't you think? I guess we're really poor, because we don't have HDTV. To be honest, I could think of a lot of other things to spend my money on first.

Looking forward to starting a new week and getting out of this weekend rut.

Musical Interlude

I'm sorry, Chaplain, but if these guys are in heaven, I think there will at least be hard rock in heaven. :) Anyway, I've liked this band, Stavesacre, for a long time, and I wanted to share some of their stuff with you. Any complaints about the theological content of their songs should be mitigated by the fact that most of ya'll are too old to make out the lyrics. :P

I Can Take a Hint

At least, I hope I was one of the people Kathy was referring to as someone else she'd like to see fill this out! :)

True Or False
Appearance:
I’m short: True
I have many scars: True
I tan easily: True
I burn easily: True
I wish my hair was a different color: Sometimes
I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color: False
I wear glasses or contacts: True
I have 5 or more piercings: False
I have/had piercings in places besides my ears: False
I have freckles: True

Relationships:
I’m in one right now: True
I miss someone right now: False
I love/like someone right now: True
I’ve gotten divorced: False
I’ve had a crush on a teacher: False
I’ve hugged a stranger: True


I’ve laughed so hard I’ve cried: True
I’ve glued my hand to something: False
I’ve laughed till some beverage came out of my nose: not out, but up, yes
I’ve had my pants rip/drop in public: False
I was born with a disease/impairment: True, if a deviated septum is an impairment
I’ve sat in a doctor’s office with a friend: True, if a vet's office counts
I’ve had my wisdom teeth removed: False, but I have had 4 others removed
I’ve had a serious surgery: True
I’ve had chicken pox: True

Experiences:
I’ve gotten lost in a city: Don't think so(?)
I’ve seen a shooting star: True
I’ve wished on a shooting star: False
I’ve gone out in public in my pajamas: False
I’ve pushed all the buttons on an elevator: False
I’ve been to a casino: False
I’ve been skydiving: False
I’ve played spin the bottle: False
I’ve drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour: False
I’ve been in a car crash: True
I’ve caught a snowflake on my tongue: True
I’ve sat on a roof top at night: True (well, stood on one)
I’ve played chicken: False
I’ve played a prank on someone: True
I’ve ridden in a taxi: True
I’ve seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show: False
I’ve eaten Sushi: Yuck, false

More Random:
I watch the news: Absolutely false
I curse regularly: Um, not regularly
I sing in the shower: Sometimes
I’m a morning person: Unequivocally false!
I am a sports fanatic: True, depending on the sport/team
I know how to shoot a gun: True
I am really ticklish: False, and my husband hates that!

This is the end of this post: True

Back to Normal...Sort Of

Well, the DH went back to work today after being off since Dec. 21, and the girls and I went "back to school." We didn't have a really intensive school day, but we made a start. For some reason, I was really worn down which did not help with the school stuff. I had a nasty allergic reaction to something, so for the last couple of days my face has been itchy, and I've been taking Benadryl at nights. Usually this knocks me out cold, but I haven't been sleeping so well, so I don't know. I hate having sensitive skin.

I am glad to be getting back to a normal schedule, but I enjoyed the holidays a lot more this year than I have in the past. And of course Christmas is not entirely over, is it, Presbytera?

I Exercised Today

My Second Amendment rights, that is. A very nice gun range just re-opened near our house, and my husband has been eager to go check it out. We went with a friend of my husband's. He recently became a U.S. citizen and is interested in exercising his rights as such. His wife also came along, and shot a gun for the first time today. She and I used my Bersa .380. My husband and his friend mostly used his Bersa 9 mm, and also shot my husband's .30-30 rifle, since rifles can be used at this range. My husband has not been able to shoot this rifle for quite some time.

We all had a good time, and my aim improved, so I was happy about that. I'm glad I know I can defend myself if I have to do so.

Happy New Year!

Couldn't let the day go by without wishing all of you a very happy and joyous new year. I haven't exactly made any resolutions, but I have thought a lot about what I want to do this year, and I especially want to have more fun. When I let myself get down, I'm no good to anyone. This is not exactly an earth-shattering or innovative discovery, but sometimes I get so caught up in what I *have* to do, that it overwhelms me and keeps me from doing anything I like to do, or getting any happiness out of the things that have to be done. Hopefully having more fun will keep my blog interesting to read as well. :)

I Don't Get It

So, many movies, as well as big-name actors, are tanking at the box office. Is the answer really to produce Indiana Jones and the Golden Viagra? Seriously?

Na na na na...

na na na na hey hey hey goodbye!

Saddam is not long for this mortal coil. 2007 is looking better already.

Don't Hate Me

9/9 Genius You are 80% knowledgable and 92% intellectual.

Amazing! You have an incredible brain (intellect) and a powerhouse of information (knowledge)! Keep up the impressive work-- we all bow to you.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on knowledge You scored higher than 99% on intellect

Link: The Knowledge vs. Intellect Test written by rattytintinface on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Popping In for a Sec

I've been busy having fun :) but I thought I'd stop in to say hello. I hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas. Here are some pictures of my daughters in their Christmas outfits.


And I just had to show you these "like grandfather, like granddaughter" pics. :)

I'll Stop Being Lazy After the Holidays

Honest. Besides, Linus does a very good job.

This May Not Be New

but I had to share it with all you people out there who love "24." You know who you are.

We Could Only Wish...

and pray.



Props to Scott Ott (via Dawn Patrol.)

A Special Day

Eleven years ago today, at 3:28 in the afternoon, our first daughter, the Scientist, came into the world. I loved holding her and crooning Christmas carols to her that first Christmas we spent together. Every year since has been an adventure, and we are very thankful that we are blessed with her. Happy birthday, dearest daughter!

Zion Lutheran, Cleveland, Ohio

Stained glass windows are currently a popular topic! I wish I had more photos of the beautiful interior of Zion Lutheran Church in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, but I'll share the two I have, anyway.

This is Zion's altar, and you can see the baptismal font in front of it. This is the font where I received new life in Christ many years ago. Perhaps why this church is a favorite of mine.

And here is the only picture of a stained glass window from the church that I have. I thought I had more, but alas, no. There are also very nice painted murals on some of the walls, as I recall, but no pics of those either! :( Oh well.

Not a Surprise at All

Once again, my Evil Genius self comes shining through. Sometimes I even scare myself.

You scored as Special Ops. Special ops. You're sneaky, tactful, and a loner. You prefer to do your jobs alone, working where you don't come into contact with people. But everyone in a while you hit it big and are noticed and given fame. You're given the more sensitive problems. You get things done, and do what has to be done. "VULCAN NECK PINCH!!!" "owww.......(slump)" Special Ops 100% Engineer 81% Combat Infantry 69% Artillery/Armor 63% Medic 63% Support Gunner 50% Officer 50% Civilian 0% Which soldier type are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Via Susan.

Put on Your Yarmulke

A little seasonal cheer. :) And ya don't even hafta worry about whether it's Advent or not!

New Blogger in Da House

Literally. The Scientist has started her own blog called The Young Explorer. Pop over and say hello!