Monday, January 31, 2005

Postscript

Achieved: Kids in bed by 9:17 p.m.

Mice

What's with these pesky little rodents? They seem to think the whole world is their private litterbox. No wonder no one's made housepets out of them. They tend to publish their regular routes, like the cereal cupboard. Too bad they tried infiltrating a house where the occupants enjoy designing pitfalls alternative to the common mousetrap.

Plan A is currently in operation. If it fails, we may implement Plan B (brainchild of several younger tacticians):

Stay Out Of The Cupboard

It's time to find out whether mice can really read or not.

Friday, January 28, 2005

Why You Should Drink the Stuff

Let me put in a good word for green tea.

Green tea is hot,
and green
(it even tastes green),
and annoys people who can't believe you drink that grassy stuff,
and warms up your stomach more pleasantly than churning acid,
and is supposed to be good for you.

Good for you?

Of course I meant your hard drive.

Green tea warms you heart and soul and magnetic heads. Best part of bootin' up is green tea in your cup!

Monday, January 24, 2005

Monday

Despite the unlooked-for industriousness, this has been a good day.

It was so balmy that I took a walk, then burned the trash later, then took another walk. Most importantly, the packing snow finally arrived, so all the kids went out to play during naptime.

Cooking was one thing I didn't do today. This weekend I had to use up a whole gallon of milk because it was past the date, and frankly, though the milk passed the taste test, I didn't want to risk waiting till the next morning, only to pour lumpy milk into the pitcher to the tune of whiney groans. In case you didn't notice, that was a long sentence. Here are two short ones to make up.

Returning to the milk... what to do with milk? Make milky things. Rice pudding, chocolate pudding, tapioca. I have sworn not to make anything new for snack until the kids eat it all up, not to mention the leftover apple cobbler and apple coffee cake. Generous dollops of Cool Whip help the medicine go down. So far the various taste factions have something to please them.

Melinda has been teaching herself to knit, enthusiasm overflowing to several others and settling into the quiet and civilized pool of a sewing circle - if three make a circle. Maybe a line on the couch.

In the midst of these peaceful pursuits comes a dark note of dread! Someone . . . perhaps something . . . Jason says he left his computer password-locked, only to later find it in shut-down mode. Sweet, adorable Trevor? I think he's been more attentive in those lap-sitting sessions than we suspected. Derek is reporting similar finds.

Since Martha Stewart isn't here, what's the best way to spread that piney fragrance from your Christmas tree? Use the vacuum cleaner on the fallen needles. Believe me, it works. It works even if you didn't plan it that way.

Speaking of Christmas trees, we should probably take ours down sometime this week, sometime before Daddy and Mommy come back. This last week they came down for an overnight visit, which we all enjoyed very much! Daddy looks stronger, and he smiles more. And Mommy laughs even more than Daddy smiles, if that's possible. Let's just say we all have fun.

But Mommy, we do need you to come home soon. Jason has started singing opera, or something like it.

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Philosophies of Politics

Naturally, such deep ideas are not coming from my head... not yet anyway. Today's inauguration ceremonies reminded me that I wanted to post these quotes Dr. Forbes compiled for the Election Forum we had last fall. He entitled the page "Miscellaneous Thoughts to Ponder".

The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all in their separate and individual capacities. (Abraham Lincoln)

Politics has got so expensive that it takes a lot of money to even get beat with. (Will Rogers)

It makes no difference who you vote for - the two parties are really one party representing four percent of the people. (Gore Vidal)

There are some politicians who, if their constituents were cannibals, would promise them missionaries for dinner. (H. L. Mencken)

An elected official is the one who gets 51 percent of the vote cast by 40 percent of the 60 percent of voters who registered. (Dan Bennet)

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. (Oscar Ameringer)

Government is too big and important to be left to the politicians. (Chester Bowles)

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts. (Henry Adams)

An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, stays bought. (Simon Cameron)

Political campaigns are designedly made into emotional orgies which endeavor to distract attention from the real issues involved, and they actually paralyze what slight powers of cerebration man can normally muster. (James Harvey Robinson)

The justification of the majority rule is not to be found in its ethical superiority. (Walter Lippmann)

Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress, but they consider the things government does for others to be socialism. (Chief Justice Earl Warren)

The difference between a politician and a statesman is: a politician thinks of the next election and a statesman thinks of the next generation. (James Freeman Clarke)

Government in the US today is a senior partner in every business in the country. (Norman Cousins)

The short memories of American voters are what keep our politicians in office. (Will Rogers)

When one may pay out millions of dollars to presidential and congressional campaigns, the US Government is virtually up for sale. (John Gardner)

Voters quickly forget what a man says. (Richard Nixon)

And where are the others that might have stood, side by your side in the common good? (Maurice Ogden)


In no way intended to refer to this election particularly. Good thoughts are always worth pondering.

Monday, January 17, 2005

Hoyt Bible Church

Forget the underground church... the upstairs church is the wave of the future. This afternoon Ethan and Carolyn were telling me a little about the 'church' they had started for the younger kids. They were meeting upstairs and even had a little chorusbook of six songs.

There was some little concern expressed, on this knowledge becoming public at the supper table, especially over the smail detail of Carolyn standing in as 'pastor'.

"WHAT!! You've got a WOMAN PASTOR!"
"She's not a pastor, she's a Bible-story teacher!" (indignantly)
"So, Carolyn, what doctrine are you preaching - Catholic?"

Perhaps not so little concern. In order to avoid further heresy, Jason stepped in as interim pastor for the evening. I was cleaning up the supper dishes and was unable to attend, but I heard some very lusty singing, with a harmonica used as a pitch pipe, and a rather long silence.

"Jason preached a really good sermon. Really good," Melinda informed me, as the new flock clumped its way downstairs.

Well, they should be all warmed up for family devotions tonight. Goodnight, folks, some little parishioners need to head towards bed.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Out Of Context, January edition

Middle of the month and it's time for those quotes. If they're related, no spaces between. This means that a lot of the morbid ones actually aren't related.

Ardith: "Eyes bigger than your stomach, huh, Derek?"
Ethan: "But that's not true. Your stomach is bigger than your eyes."

Jason, concerning The Taming of the Shrew: "And what you don't often hear about is that the woman had a nose shaped like a shrew's nose."

Nolan, on seeing a cat: "I wish we could have a rifle and shoot it. That would be interesting."

Carolyn: "Do you want to die first, Trevor, or do you want me to?"

Ardith: "Yes, my inner homicidal tendencies have been brought out."

Jason: "One man's medicine, another man's poison."

Carolyn to Derek, concerning LOTR: "If Kendra was just let, I don't think you'd be let... yet."

Derek: "Hey! Join my side, Jason. I'm an island in a sea of angry waves."

Carolyn: "I've used up all my [computer] game time. I'm going to play something educational."

Nolan: "I'm not much tired. I'm just a tweency tired."

Jason: "I'd take chocolate. It has a quick pickup. . . and a l-o-n-g letdown."

Carolyn: "I'm drawing a spiritual horse."

Ethan: "I know why they wear a bullet-proof vest. So no one can mmm them."
Sharon: "So no one can mmm them? You mean, stab them?"
Ethan: "Yeah, with a gun. ... I mean! You know what I mean!"

Ethan: "I know how to use a sling. You look where you're going to throw it at, pull it back (well, put in a stone) and aim for a LITTLE BELOW where you want to hit."

Trevor doesn't say a great deal yet, but still manages to make his statement. Get a load of this cool dude.

Thanks to Melinda for serving as beautician.

It's time to get these kids in bed so I can get them out tomorrow morning.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Now the day is over. . .

Today we made the two-library and shopping run. It was a beautiful day.... clear blue skies with high brilliantly white cirrus clouds over brilliantly sparkling snow, and a bitterly cold wind. We came back home to discover that tonight's windchill ranges from 20 to 29 degrees below 0, and that's Fahrenheit. But we made it!

My library finds this time around:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams - Ardith will be so proud of me;
Star Trek: I'm Working on That, William Shatner - looks at the reality of ST technology;
The Iliad, Homer - did you know that this is described as "the world's greatest war novel"?; War and Peace, Count Leo Tolstoy (this and The Iliad are to finish)
Italian: A Self-Teaching Guide, Eduardo A. Lèborno
How to Learn Languages and What Languages to Learn, Mario Pei
Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order, Mark Crispin Miller (author of The Bush Dyslexicon)

The author of this last one is simply a professor of media studies. Brilliant credentials for this kind of book and this kind of declaration, but let's judge him by his work. I can't wait to get inside his perspective and find out what makes it tick.


Trevor was so tired and goofy tonight! He would trip and not be able to get up from laughing. He is rapidly increasing his vocabulary by voicing the opposite of whatever we say. Tonight he added "down" and "up"; the trick is to agree with him, then he'll want the other, plus learn twice as many words.

As a side note, I have been informed that my photos may not be free-hosted much longer, so they won't be available for long. I will have to hunt up something else. When my computer isn't spontaneously rebooting itself in the middle of a first spontaneous reboot.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Just to help you sleep tonight

Yesterday I startled Jason by jerking and yelling when I played the following linked German coffee ad. I don't know why I should even post the link, except for four reasons; 1) it has a little German to redeem it; 2) to show what I can't take; 3) there is always someone who can take it, and who may even enjoy it; 4) occasional disturbances may help us better appreciate the monotonous or insane serenity of our lives. That said, be forewarned.

In order to access this ad, click here, scroll down the orange window, find TV Spot - K-fee Auto, and click the download button at the end. Depending on your surroundings, you may want earphones for the 1 second worth of noticeable sound (says the library student worker). You can save it, then choose Launch File as soon as it downloads to view it at once.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

January's upgrade

The latest sidebar attractions, depending on what attracts you...

-January's Sites of the Month focus on language and the Internet, especially IM communication linguistics, which I find fascinating.

-L & L, languages and linguistics, those inseparable L's; some good resources and interesting overviews.

-A new photo gallery (Winter), dedicated to the latest biggest dump of snow.

I realize that some of the photos aren't perfectly straight. Think of it as a New Perspective in photo art.

Disclaimer: No, I haven't read all the new sites. Others should never have to wait on my slow reading! I did look them over well and would like to finish when I have a chance. However, the day is only so long and daily life is only so short.

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Why You Shouldn't Read Jane Austen's Junk

(Mainly just one of her books called Pride and Prejudice)

These are my only lines of this blog post. The rest is a persuasive essay that my brother Derek (13) wrote. I have only made a few spelling and vocabulary-clarifying corrections. He has regretfully approved the final version of this blog post.

That's right. Junk! Why do I use such vulgar description? Because that is the only way to categorize Jane Austen's novels as I see them. Of course not everybody agrees with my viewpoint on them. One of them is Kendra. She thinks they are great and she has watched the movie of what she thinks is the best of them, Pride and Prejudice. Moreover Sharon and Ardith like the book, Pride and Prejudice, too. Ardith, Sharon, and Kendra probably partly like it because it has a considerable amount of romance (Prideful guy and Prejudiced gal fall in love). But, who wants to read a lot of MUSH?!??!? There is probably only one answer to that VERY important question. And that is... because maybe they like mush (or romance... BLEAH). But then the question is what's wrong with romance. Nothing, except that it is almost always put into a nutty, silly, foolish, or yucky ("sorry for using that word Mommy, but I just HAD to use it to clearly describe what I'm trying to get across") style. Therefore, one of the reasons why you shouldn't read Jane Austen's Junk is, because it's got a considerable amount of MUSH in it.

Furthermore, who is this Jane Austen. She is, I guess (or maybe I just know), a sharp tongued woman with a wicked sense of humor. A wicked sense of humor isn't all that bad, my sister Ardith has it; but, a wicked sense of humor plus a sharp tongue, is another thing. Besides sharp tongued women tend to be bossy or dictator-like. Besides all that, the person is a female and her attitudes are not akin to that of the male. Boys, I guess, just naturally don't like her or her works, while girls naturally seem to.

In addition to all this, she had out of the whack titles for in of the whack things. Sense and Sensibility? Oh good grief. Not too bad, I guess, except that it's about people with sense and sensibility probably, and not about two close abstract ideas. Or maybe I'm just nuts and don't know what I'm talking about; Kendra would probably think so. But what I want you to get from this essay is, the idea that Jane's Junk is not to be adored or liked, it is mush, and it seems to be quite silly. Just don't become in thought and action like those who pour this junk into themselves.

Derek tells us that this description of Jane Austen as a woman with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of humor came from the back of an Austen biography, by Amy Ruth, which last piece of information I provided despite Derek's concerns that this would lead to a mass reading of a book spreading Austen mania.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Saturday evening's prayer

I sit here typing in the peace of bleached and smarting hands, thanking the Lord that He made food to keep under cold and not heat, that I do not have to pray for the strength to nobly die of asphyxiation after prolongued exposure to the rich odors that would bombard me while cleaning a heated refrigerator.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

More pictures

Despite my summer job of covering our windows with plastic, they continue to rebel and give off gorgeous shows like this!

A few pictures from the New Year's Eve Party at our church are on the sidebar. More specifically, the Hoyt kids taking aim at the piñata.

Unfortunately, my only picture of Ethan didn't even show him because someone else stepped in front of the camera. So I wanted to give my eight-year-old brother another spot on the blog.

We take turns praying before meals, and one morning it was Ethan's turn. This was soon after Daddy's and Mommy's latest visit, and we weren't expecting to see them for a while.

"Dear Jesus, ..."

(pause)

"Please help all of us here at home not to get sick, and help Daddy and Mommy not to get sick where they are either, so they can come down and visit us. In Jesus' name amen."

Mumbled and run together, and no mention of the food. But now it looks like his prayer may be answered on Friday. God is so good!

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Tuesday Night's Forecast

Half past nine o'clock and all's well!

So far we haven't forgotten the Christmas tree lights, the stove burners or the lamps, and so the house hasn't burned down... yet. Personally, I think a blaze sounds like a lovely way to warm up. Especially with this approaching killer snowstorm, first of the season (for us) that the meteorologists are eagerly jumping all over in their haste to finally put some fear into the hearts of viewers who begin to think that the snow finally heard of global warming. If we get a good dump, it will be fantastic for building snow forts and starting snow battles to top the Empire's takeover of the Rebellion's headquarters on Hoth.

I predict a late night for everyone. . . late for children who can't sleep for thinking about the storm, and late for the three of us girls staying up to enjoy Austen's masterful interplay of characters in Pride and Prejudice.

Sunday, January 02, 2005

2005: The Year of Languages

Yes, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has designated 2005 as the Year of Languages. I heard about this back in November when our language professors returned from the ACTFL conference in Chicago. Hopes are for this initiative to affect all of America, even military officers. More information is here.

What a perfect excuse to go dig up my language books!

(side note: flashlights were not invented to be useful when swinging from the wrist, especially not when descending steep dark attic stairs with heavy book boxes)

All I have to do before next fall is finish my German and Spanish books and study for this semester's final, which I'll take to pass the semester I am missing for these languages. And keep up the French for study abroad in Dijon next spring.

So I think I will start some new languages. In other words, Hebrew, Italian, and Japanese. How exciting!

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Endings and Beginnings

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.


2 Corinthians 5:9-10

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.


Revelation 22:20

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!