Quoting Again

From Book Three: Chapter 1 of Mere Christianity:

Morality, then, seems to be concerned with three things. Firstly, with fair play and harmony between individuals. Secondly, with what might be called tidying up or harmonizing the things inside each individual. Thirdly, with the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for…

And this:

You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.

Another Quote from Mere Christianity

Yet another interesting bit from C.S. Lewis, one that I so totally agree with:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic --- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg --- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is,the Son of God: or else a mandman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Too Smart for Me

It’s no wonder squirrels got into my attic! My daughter wants to know how the second guy got that candy bar. Not my find. Thank Scot McKnight over at Jesus Creed.

Much Ado Podcasts

This semester, I am facilitating a Shakespeare class for our homeschool support group. As part of the class, I created a blog that the students can use to get reading assignments, schedules and, sometimes, extras that I think they might find interesting. Today, I found this great site from the United Kingdom that has podcasts of every act of Much Ado About Nothing (the play that the class is currently reading), plus interviews with the characters and the director of the production. If you are in the mood for a little diversion this evening, check it out.

DYK? Super Oatmeal

How’s this for math:

Oatmeal + Orange Juice = Superfood

Apparently, oatmeal and orange juice have a synergistic relationship. From RealAge.com:

The phenols in oatmeal and the vitamin C in OJ both help make LDL more stable --- and that’s a good thing, because the more stable LDL is, the less likely it is to rupture, stick to artery walls, and cause [a heart attack]. But consume the phenols and vitamin C together and they’ll stabilize LDL at twice the level expected from adding their effects together.

A shameless plug from the Plush Duck: if you would like healthy tips like this delivered to your e-mail account, check out the Real Age website for yourself.

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

Dated Advice

This morning, I asked my daughter to browse through Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book in search of a few more interesting recipes to add to my Rudolph Club plan. During her inquiry, she found the following statement:

Those on weight reduction diets or diabetic diets should be under the care of a physician and should follow his directions. Artificial sweeteners have proved a boon for those on this type of diet and recipes for baked foods made with the sweeteners are available from the manufacturers. You may also want to consult the State Board of Health (if your state has one) or the American Diabetic Association for diet recipes.

The idea that, in 1963 (the year the cookbook was published), some states didn’t have a Board of Health amused my daughter greatly. I wonder, did Connecticut have a State Board of Health in 1963? If you know the answer, please leave a comment. Many thanks.

A Quote from Mere Christianity

Yesterday, I began reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis for the CHOOSE CT High School Book Club. I am only one or two chapters along, but already I found this thought-provoking idea:

Progress means not just changing, but changing for the better. If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense in preferring civilised morality to savage morality...In fact, of course, we all do believe that some moralities are better than others.

- snip –

The moment you say that one set of moral ideas can be better than another, you are, in fact, measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to that standard more nearly than the other. But the standard that measures two things is something different from either. You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as a real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others.

An Awesome Cookie Press

Yesterday, as part of my January 2008 Rudolph Club activities, I made Snowflake cookies with my daughter. Now, these were no ordinary snowflake cookies. They weren’t the kind that you roll out and then use a cookie cutter to achieve the desired shape (a task made incredibly easy by my beautiful, functional, multi-sized snowflake cutter). No, these were the kind of cookies that required the use of a cookie press. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with this tool, it looks like this and functions thus, quoting from Wikipedia:

A cookie press is a device for making pressed cookies such as spritzgebäck. It consists of a cylinder with a plunger on one end, which is used to extrude cookie dough through a small hole at the other end. Typically, the cookie press has interchangeable plates with holes in different shapes, such as a star shape or a narrow slit to extrude the dough in ribbons.

For years, I had the same type of cookie press that my mother used when I was a child. Yes, it was an older model, but had always produced perfect cookies for my mother (the pastry chef) so how hard could it be? It required the operator, after filling the press with dough, to set the bottom of the device against the cookie sheet and turn a knob on the top of the unit while watching to make sure just the right amount of dough was extruded. Too much dough and the cookie would look “fat,” as if it had “melted” in the oven; too little dough and the cookie would look like the runt of the litter, if you will; like Goldilocks with her porridge, just the right amount of dough would create a firm, well-formed delight. Needless to say, this took a little training and it seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I always ended up with “fat” cookies (and it usually took a while for me to get them in that condition). Such positive reinforcement, of course, made me avoid pressed cookies like the plague.

Then, about two years ago, during a fit of frustration, I searched online for a replacement cookie press and found this, the Marcato Biscuits Cookie Gun. Yesterday was the first time I had used it and what a joy! Easy to load, easy to use, and FAST! I was able to press out two dozen cookies in less than thirty seconds. Whoever designed this thing was (is) a genius! If they handed out a Nobel Prize for kitchen equipment, this guy (girl) would definitely get my vote. Pressed cookies are no longer a nightmare at my house. I could make them every day. Hurrah!

RC: January 2008

This year, as part of my New Year’s Resolutions (NYR: Christmas/Holiday), I decided to participate in a book and movie club through the website Magical Holiday Home. Each month, the organizers of this club select one Christmas book and one Christmas film for members to read and view. Then, on the 25th of the month, those who so choose can go to the Rudolph Club forum (on the aforementioned website) to share their thoughts about what they read and watched. Since I don’t generally have (or make) time to do that, I chose to share my critiques here instead. The selections for January 2008 are given below.

BOOK
Rover Saves Christmas
by Roddy Doyle

Written for the 9-12 year old set (at least according to Amazon.com), I actually had trouble getting through this little tome, possibly because I am a traditionalist or possibly because I am a grown-up, or both; I’m not sure. At any rate, I could not relate to Rover, the dog with “a brain the size of Arizona tucked into a head the size of a baked potato,” who sold his poo and urinated on cars as a fundraiser for the neighborhood kids (yes, you read that correctly). Nor could I appreciate the revisioned portrayal of that icon of secular Christmas lore, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, as a narcissistic, middle-aged hippy wearing a bandana around his antlers and spouting lines like:

“Look, man, next year, maybe. It’s a mid-life thing. I need a rest.”

Or

“But that’s it, man,” said Rudolph. That’s all it’s about these days. Presents, presents, presents. They’re spoilt, man. The kids these days. They don’t even say thanks.”

I had trouble as well when the poo-selling pooch replaced the flu-stricken Rudolph on Christmas Eve, no doubt qualified for this position by his superior entrepreneurial expertise. He is a dog. Does Santa not employ backup reindeer for such emergencies? Surely, Comet or Dasher or another member of the sleigh-pulling team must have fallen ill at some time throughout history. Please tell me the man who is organized enough to deliver gifts to all the children on earth in one night is not so foresight-challenged as to lack a back-up team. Please tell me it isn’t so. Please!

So much for my opinion. The review on Amazon.com describes the book this way:

Captain Underpants fans and like-minded kids (and grownups) will appreciate such respect for their intelligence --- and their sense of humor.

I am so obviously not a member of this demographic; else I would have enjoyed Rover Saves Christmas. I just think that if you want to raise kids who believe in the “magic” of Christmas, you need provide a narrative that will reinforce that “magic,” and I am not convinced this book contributes positively to that goal.

Sheepishly recommended, but only for teenage boys who may enjoy the “poo” humor. Plush Duck Rating: *****

FILM
“All I Want for Christmas”
starring Harley Jane Kozak, Jamey Sheridan, Ethan Randall, & Thora Birch

Much, much better than the January book selection, this film had all the elements that I love in a Christmas movie: sparkle, lots of traditional decorations in the scenery, and characters that convincingly believe in the magic of the holiday, even if it is only from a secular perspective. Better yet, the film also had sibling characters who love each other, demonstrated most pointedly by an older brother who watches over his younger sister not only by taking her to see Santa, but by attempting to make her most heartfelt Christmas wish come true --- reuniting their divorced parents. Accomplishing that goal is the crux of the tale...and antics are certainly part of the process.

A recipient of the Award of Excellence from the Film Advisory Board, “All I Want for Christmas” is definitely a family-friendly film with no profanity that I can recall, no children in abject rebellion, and nothing more than pecks on the cheek amongst the teenage love interests. Boring? No. Refreshingly innocent. Perhaps that is why I had trouble finding it. The movie was nowhere to be seen at my local library; nor was it available on Netflix. It was also missing from my local Walmart and my neighborhood Blockbuster. It was available at Walmart online but, in the end, I purchased it from Amazon, something I don’t always like to do sight unseen. In this case, however, it was money well spent.

With cameo appearances by Lauren Bacall as the grandmother and Leslie Nielsen as Santa. Release date: 1991. Highly recommended. Plush Duck Rating: *****

NEW COOKIE
In addition to the monthly book and movie choices, my daughter and I decided to experiment with a monthly Christmas cookie recipe as well. That way, by the time December rolls around, any new favorites will already be on the cookie list, and no one will be asked to sacrifice a traditional favorite for something unusual or unexpected. The January cookie:

Snowflakes
from Christmas-Cookies.com

Yield: 66 cookies
Supplies needed: Cookie press

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 3-ounce package cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cream together butter, cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and orange zest. Sift together flour, salt, and cinnamon. Gradually blend flour mixture into butter mixture. Fill cookie press. Form cookies on ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove at once to cooling racks.

Note: the orange zest in this recipe can be quite overpowering, so use caution.

Highly recommended. These little lovelies all but vanished from my kitchen within a day. They never even made it into the cookie jar. Plush Duck Rating: *****

On a Happier Note

Our friend Joe just rescued this guy from oblivion. His name is Hoagie. He is a Bassett Hound puppy.

Farewell, Mrs. B

It has been a rough week on my old street in Fairmont, Minnesota. On Sunday, little Kasey Cae Scheff passed away. She lived in the house where I grew up. On Wednesday, one of the neighborhood moms, who was also a good friend of my mother, passed away at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester.

I can barely remember when Mrs. B and her family moved to Fairmont. According to her obituary, it was in 1970. I would have been nine years old and in third or fourth grade at that time. Her youngest daughter was in my class at school. We were all in Girl Scouts together --- Mrs. B, her daughter, my mother, and me. I did music; her daughter did swimming. I moved away after graduation; her daughter stayed in town. I had one child; her daughter had more. I haven’t seen her daughter for years, but I did see Mrs. B when I was home for my dad’s funeral. She was about 77 years old at the time and still her jovial self, sharp wit and keen sense of humor still bright. Frankly, she seemed almost unchanged from our summer camp days, just a bit older.

I can also remember going to Mrs. B’s house once in awhile, almost always with my mother, to see the latest quilt project. Mrs. B had the largest machine-quilting device I have ever seen, even to this day. It took up one entire side of her family room and then some. I always imagined making a quilt and bringing it to Mrs. B so she could finish it for me --- quickly --- so I wouldn’t have to spend hours (or months or years) quilting the project by hand. I never did make that imaginary quilt and, even if I did so now, I no longer have the luxury of taking it to a beloved neighborhood mom so she could perform the task that I was too lazy to complete.

My mother told me recently that on the first day of school in the fall, after the children were all safely delivered up the one-block hill to our local elementary school, the neighborhood parents (read mothers) would gather for coffee and go house to house, sifting through sandboxes for items that had been missing since the end of the previous school year --- spoons that filled buckets, forks that were used to decorate the sides of sandcastle creations, muffin tins that were excellent molds for fortresses against invading sandbox soldiers. One by one, the neighborhood mothers who must have participated in this annual ritual are passing into history. Another one departed this earth on Wednesday. Even though I don’t think about it much these days, I do miss them all. Their humor, their talents, and the love that they had for each other is a precious example of community that I have yet to see duplicated. I thank God for each one of them and look forward to seeing them in Heaven.

If you would like to read the obituary for Mrs. B, click here.

Study Bucks Revisited

The other day I posted a note about a program that the Georgia public schools plan to try to increase the classroom performance of their students, that of paying them $8.00 per hour to study. Well, guess what? In my area of Connecticut, that is the same wage rate as a cashier at the local supermarket. Noticing this, I began to muse about some of the particulars of the Georgia plan:

- will the students who participate in the “study for money” program get a weekly “paycheck” from the program sponsor?

- will the students’ “paycheck” be subject to payroll taxes?

- will the students be considered recipients of a “welfare” program, recipients of a grant, or will they be defined in some other way?

- will the program be staffed with monitors to ensure that studying is actually occurring or will the students be on the “honor” system? And if monitors are supplied, who pays for them --- the public school or the program sponsor?

- does the program have any criteria for disqualification, such as a minimum GPA that must be maintained?

Oh, and one other piece of information that may interest my readers: minimum wage in Georgia is $5.65 per hour, so the students who participate in the “Learn & Earn” program will be making 137% of minimum wage. The equivalent rate in Connecticut would be $10.46 per hour...for students to be doing what they are supposed to be doing --- studying.

Just a few thoughts that crossed my mind on the way home from the grocery store.

DYK? Sleep and Nutrition

Have trouble getting to sleep or, worse yet, have trouble with heartburn as soon as you lie down to go to sleep? Well, here is some interesting information that may explain why. From Dr. Weil.com:

1. It is more difficult to digest food when lying down. Our digestive tracts work best when we are upright --- sitting, standing or even walking. When you lie down after a meal, gravity can disrupt proper digestion. This can lead to acid reflux, or heartburn, which can hinder sleep.

2. Digesting food requires the body to expend energy. This can interfere with the relaxed metabolic state required for sleep. Your best bet: eat large meals earlier in the day, when the body will best use the energy the food provides, and limit any late-evening eating to small, healthful snacks.

Sleep tight…and eat right.

DYK? Nasal Irrigation

I have used this treatment for years (on myself and on my daughter) and, I must say, it definitely works. In fact, the years that I slacked off or outright abandoned the practice, I fell ill with serious, long-lasting upper respiratory infections. You know the kind: they hang on for months and usually require the assistance of inhalers and antibiotics.

Well, now a study out of the Czech Republic confirms what I have known all along: nasal irrigation with a saline solution may clear up cold symptoms faster than medication alone, at least in children, and may prevent such symptoms from returning. Quoting from an article on Medpage Today:

[The] prospective, parallel-group, open-label study included 401 children ages six to [ten] seen for uncomplicated cold or flu in eight pediatric outpatient clinics.

Participants were randomized to treatment with standard medication, which could include antipyretics, nasal decongestants, mucolytics, and antibiotics, alone or in combination with nasal wash, and then observed over 12 weeks.

And here are some of the results:

- At the 12-week follow-up in the subsequent prevention phase, symptoms of dry cough, nasal secretion, and nasal breathing were less common or less severe among children in the nasal irrigation group than in the control group.

- Long-term saline irrigation also was associated with better parent-reported health status, fewer reported days of illness, fewer absences from school, and fewer complications.

- At the first visit, the saline nasal wash group reported less use of nasal decongestants (15.9% versus 35.6%), and mucolytics (17.3% versus 31.7%).

- At the follow-up visit at about week eight, medication use was lower in the nasal irrigation group for antipyretics (9.4% versus 32.7%), mucolytics (9.7% versus 36.6%), nasal decongestants (9.7% versus 46.5%), and systemic antibiotics (5.6% versus 20.8%).

So, the next time your kids fall ill with a cold, give nasal irrigation a try. Who knows, you may end up with a shorter course of illness and healthier children.

For the complete article from Medpage Today, click here.

Study Bucks

Just when I think the public education system has hatched their last hair-brained idea, they come up with yet another one. Here is the latest from Georgia, courtesy of Fox News:

Fulton County school officials will pay students to study after school in a new program designed to improve their classroom performance.

The program, called “Learn & Earn,” is being offered to 40 students from Creekside High and Bear Creek Middle schools in Fairburn. The program will give students $8.00 an hour to study after school.

- snip -

School officials say the goal is to determine whether paying students to study will improve their performance.

The program is privately funded, but I can’t help wondering if it won’t teach children that nothing is worth doing unless they get paid for it OR that they can get paid for doing nothing. The ultimate result may be mercenaries or sluggards. Gee, which one of those creatures do I want to let loose on society?

Our Condolences

Yesterday, my mother informed me that one of the children who moved into my childhood home (after her parents purchased it last March), Kasey Cae Scheff, passed away on Sunday. She was only six years old. My family and I would like to extend our most heartfelt condolences to her family, and ask that others keep them in prayer at this most difficult time. To read the obituary for Miss Scheff, please visit the Lakeview Funeral Home website.

Not Again!

News Channel 8 had this on their website yesterday:

Grief counselors will be on hand tomorrow, following the deaths of two students in a car crash. Both victims are from Wallingford and it has left the town grief-stricken.

Tyler Priore, 15, was a sophomore at Notre Dame High in West Haven. The driver of the car --- 16-year-old George McLean was a student at Xavier High School in Middletown.

Police say the car was going fast on Williams Road last night when the driver lost control --- crossing the center line and slamming into a tree.

- snip-

David Cojas, 15, survived the crash and was listed in stable condition at Yale New Have Hospital.

This latest teen tragedy is especially poignant for young people who will soon take to the road themselves.

Especially poignant for young people who are about to start driving? The situation is definitely poignant, meaning it evokes a keen sense of sadness or regret. It is always sorrowful when young people lose their lives, departing this earth before they’ve ever had a chance to truly make an impact on a larger circle of people than their close friends and relatives, before they’ve really seen other parts of the world, or before they’ve gone through such benchmark life experiences as high school graduation, college, marriage, and parenthood. The situation should be poignant to everyone, not just to young people, and not just to young people who are about to start driving.

But since the author of the news article saw fit to single them out, what exactly should “young people who are about to start driving” take away from this tragedy? Not knowing any of the particulars of this most recent accident and being the parent of a daughter who is about to start driver’s training, here are some of my suggestions:

1. Don’t hasten the licensing process, not matter how many of your friends have their licenses. Take the time to clock enough time behind the wheel, more time than you (or your parents) probably think is necessary. In Connecticut, any driver under 18 years of age must hold a permit for 120-180 days before they can apply for the licensing exam. Make full use of that time.

2. Study, with your parents, the boundaries of your automobile. Recognize where your car is in relation to other drivers.

3. Learn to drive defensively. If possible, complete a defensive driving course that uses a simulator. Unfortunately, these are not widely available at this time, but if a center is available near your home, make use of it. For a list of centers, click here.

4. With your parents, make a plan to expose yourself to a wide variety of driving scenarios and weather conditions before obtaining your license.

5. Complete more than the minimum requirements for your license. For instance, in Connecticut, homeschooled students must complete only four hours of drug and alcohol education as it pertains to operating a motor vehicle. That seems woefully inadequate to me, and to my daughter, so we plan to include a bit more study on those subjects when the time comes.

6. To the best of your ability, and at a minimum, obey the restrictions that the state has placed on you as a teen driver. In most cases, these are not unreasonable, nor do they infringe on your liberty as a citizen of the United States. If you are not supposed to be driving after 10:00 PM, for example, make certain you are home with your family before that hour. If you are not supposed to carry passengers with you, other than family members, don’t offer to take your friends to the mall after school. Obey the law, even if it is tough to do so in the face of peer pressure. Your life may depend on it.

7. Follow safe driving practices, even if these are not always modeled by your parents: wear your seatbelt, obey speed limits, park legally, and don’t talk on your cell phone (or text message) while driving.

Learning to operate a motor vehicle is one of the riskiest, most significant, and responsibility-laden endeavors a teenager ever attempts. All of us, as parents, pray never to be the one who receives that phone call saying our child is the latest victim of an automobile accident. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to let them go and let them drive. Yet, we can influence the process, I believe, much more than we think we can and, oftentimes, much more than we do. Be there, so your “young person who is about to start driving” learns more than poignancy from this latest tragedy.

For a more complete news story about this event, click here.

Just Stop!

Ok. I think it is time for me to resign as the Coordinator for our local homeschool support group! I have finally gone ‘round the bend. I found myself griping at my online mailbox today when I received yet another e-mail message from yet another organization attempting to sell me yet another curriculum item that is currently being used in the public school. Why?! Why?! Why?! Why?! Why?! Why?! Why?! What makes these people think that I want a curriculum that is being used in our failing and dysfunctional public education system? Is it not obvious that if I wanted to use such a curriculum, I would send my child to public school? Better yet, if I wanted my child educated with such a curriculum, why would purchase it when I could just send my child to the public school for FREE, where she could “benefit” from this curriculum for FREE? Seriously, do I look that intellectually challenged? Seriously.

Here is a portion of the e-mail I received (with comments):

Homeschoolers can now buy EXACTLY the same materials used in thousands of schools across North America at considerably lower prices.

- snip –

These cross-curricular, multi-level learning tools offer interactive learning, stunning graphics and engaging video clips, and are perfect for homeschoolers. [Ok. For my enlightenment, exactly which of these previously-mentioned characteristics makes this curriculum “perfect” for homeschoolers?]

- snip -

The ONLY difference is the home versions do NOT include public performance rights – just like the DVD’s you rent, they are licensed for home use only. [If I sent my child to public school, I wouldn’t be paying these fees directly. The school would pay them. I would contribute to the bill through my taxes, which I do anyway despite the fact that I homeschool.]

So, if you are one of the curriculum vendors who keep bombarding me with advertisements, please stop sending your flyers and brochures to my home, and your e-mail messages to my cyberaddress. Just stop! Spend your postage budget, and your time, targeting someone who truly wants your product --- America’s public schools.

Sorry. Just had to get that off my chest.

Homeschool Forum

I received this from Judy over at Consent of the Governed. If you are a homeschooler and can possibly attend, please do so!

Homeschooler Legislative Forum!
Come Meet Your Elected Officials!
Thursday, January 24 at 7 pm

Southbury Town Hall
501 Main Street South
Southbury, CT 06488

Directions

Refreshments will be provided.

Homeschool friendly State Representative Arthur O-Neill has arranged with are homeschoolers and NHELD, this fourth meeting is a series of similar events throughout Connecticut, in an effort to educate legislators about the homeschool community. He hopes that understanding the homeschool community will encourage legislators to support homeschooling and parental rights in the State legislature in the upcoming session, which will begin on February 6. In the next legislative session, Rep. O’Neill will be proposing legislation guaranteeing all Connecticut parents’ right to withdraw their children from the public schools.

Representative O'Neill, Attorney Deborah Stevenson, and Judy Aron will moderate the meeting. Area homeschoolers will be able to participate in discussing what homeschooling is, different ways of home educating, experiences in withdrawing from the public schools, and homeschooling success stories. Families are encouraged to bring samples of school projects, display boards they have created, or scrapbooks or other pictures or items that they are proud of, to display to attendees and legislators. Even if you don’t care to speak, please come to show your support for the homeschooling community and to greet the legislators! Children and homeschool graduates are welcome to speak.

It is very important that as many of us as possible attend this meeting. Please make every effort to come, even if it involves some challenges. You may bring non-homeschooling friends and family, as well. Adults and well-behaved children are welcome. You may wish to bring something to occupy younger children.

Please RSVP and let Tina Pirozolli (fitzgerald@pshift.com) or Leslie Wolfgang (lesliewolfgang@yahoo.com) or Deborah Stevenson (info@nheld.com) know if you can make this meeting, and if you will bring pictures or projects for the display table.

Please pass the world along too! We thank you for encouraging other to attend! Also please save the date of February 6th, 9 am, when we will ask all homeschoolers in CT to come to Hartford on the opening day of the legislative session and join with the Governor and legislators to support CT homeschoolers. Details to follow.

Mock Primary Election

Calling all my homeschool friends and readers! I posted this note on the CHOOSE CT Co-op Basic American Government blog this evening and thought I would add it here as well. I will be checking the results on February 4th to see if the media reports hold true that "homeschoolers vote for Mike Huckabee." I myself am a Thompson fan.
----------------------------
I have seen this exercise on several homeschool websites and at least one homeschool Yahoogroup and it looks interesting enough to try. You will need to create a free HomeschoolEstore account to participate, but it might be worth it to see whom your fellow homeschoolers are supporting for President of the United States. For instructions, please read this quote from the host website:

If you are 7 to 17 and a resident of the United States, we encourage you to learn about the 2008 presidential candidates and the election process by participating in our mock primary election, now through February 4th, the day before Super Tuesday. You must have a free HomeschoolEstore account in order to participate. Click here to cast your vote now! Results will be posted real-time, and the final winners will be posted on Monday, February 4th. Please, keep this election fair and only allow one vote, per child, in your homeschool. Only 5 votes per account will be allowed. To see our current vote tally, click here.

I must reiterate the admonition from the website that ONLY ONE VOTE PER PERSON is permitted. This isn’t American Idol where you can vote more than once. Also, if your household rules require parental permission prior to going online, please speak to your parents before voting on the HomeschoolEstore website.

The polls are now open. Don’t forget to vote.

Add 14 Years...Maybe

Would you like to add fourteen years to your life? Well, according to a British study that included some 20,000 men and women between the ages of 45 and 79, all you need to do is cultivate four healthy lifestyle habits:

Don’t smoke. A bit of a no-brainer. By now, I think most people know that smoking is deleterious to their overall health and well-being.

Exercise regularly. Again, we’ve all heard this advice for years. Tell me something I didn’t know.

Drink moderate amounts of alcohol. This is a somewhat controversial finding. Some studies say not to drink, while others (like this one) say that moderate amounts of alcohol, especially red wine and/or strong beer, can be beneficial.

Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Yep, I knew that.

Nothing horribly profound. The story behind the study, however, is quite interesting and isn’t being discussed much. For that information, see this article on Junkfood Science...and remember, things aren’t always as they appear.

Wanted: Happiness

Yesterday, my Google Reader returned this article from Christian Post.com entitled “Americans’ Search for Happiness.” The column briefly discussed how we in the United States currently describe what gives us pleasure, as well as some of the challenges that prevent us from reaching that state of contentment. For example, when asked (as part of an ABC News poll) what made them happy, some moms from Texas listed socializing, prayer, sex, and television. Sadly, they relegated parenting to the same level as housework. Guess what? Neither of those activities induced happiness for these ladies. Unfortunately, I can’t say that was a big surprise.

This wasn’t too terribly shocking either:

Many [people] look toward the future for happiness, hoping “someday” they’ll meet that perfect person, win the lottery or retire....” That leaves the majority of Americans just enduring the present while waiting for something better to happen.

With that kind of attitude/behavior, is it any wonder that youth say this about the older generation:

“Adults have no friends, adults have no passions, and adults are stressed out.” --- Contemplative Youth Ministry by Mark Yaconelli

Regrettably, most people gauge their happiness by their life circumstances, by what is happening around them; but are activities/events the true source of happiness? Only marginally. According to University of California psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want, only 10% of our total contentment is related to our life circumstances. 50% is genetic. 40% is controlled by our thoughts, our outlook, and our intentional activities.

C.S. Lewis disagrees. For him, God was the source of happiness:

“...it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There in no such thing.”

I agree with Mr. Lewis on this one. If Americans are seeking happiness, they need look no further than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, what do you think is the true source of your happiness? Comments desired.

NYR: Christmas/Holidays

RESOLUTION
To plan and prepare for the Christmas season throughout the whole of 2008 so that most, if not all, of the time-consuming tasks that I perform to get ready for the holidays are completed by the beginning of Advent. To plan and prepare for several other major holidays as well, namely Easter, Family Heritage Night, and Thanksgiving.

PLAN
- Record what went well during the 2007 Christmas season
- Participate in a Christmas reading/movie club to get gift ideas for others & to build a holiday book & movie library
- Use a holiday planning notebook or computer folder to organize planning efforts
- When possible, centralize holiday decorations, food service, and food preparation items in attic or basement
- Spend time each month reviewing holiday plans, scheduling holiday preparation work, and performing specific holiday preparation tasks. When possible, set this time aside on the following schedule:

Easter planning: 3rd day of the month
Family Heritage Night planning: 30th of the month
Thanksgiving planning: 4th Thursday of the month
Christmas planning: 25th of the month

RUDOLPH CLUB READING & MOVIE LIST
Rover Saves Christmas by Roddy Doyle
“All I Want for Christmas” starring Harley Jane Kozak

How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas by Jeff Guinn
“The Santa Clause” starring Tim Allen

Flight of the Reindeer by Robert Sullivan
“Holiday Inn” starring Bing Crosby

The Christmas Shoes by Donna VanLiere
“Meet John Doe” starring Gary Cooper

When Santa Fell to Earth by Cornelia Funke
“Miracle on 34th Street” starring Dylan McDermott

The Bird’s Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin
“The Bishop’s Wife” starring Cary Grant

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
“The Holiday” starring Kate Winslet

1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred Carl Hottes
“Trapped in Paradise” starring Nicholas Cage

A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton
“Home Alone” starring Macaulay Culkin

The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado
“Silver Bells” starring Anne Heche

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” starring Jim Carrey

NYR: Church/Christian

As it is customary to make New Year’s Resolutions in January --- and fail at keeping them by February --- I decided to get serious about this exercise for 2008. Since I mentally divide my life into roles for organizational purposes, I am making my resolutions per each role. This is my plan for Church/Christian during the next twelve months:

RESOLUTION
To study more about the Emergent/Emerging Church

PLAN
Read some, if not all, of the books on a reading list that features authors and opinions that are both pro-Emergent and anti-Emergent.

READING LIST
Contemplative Youth Ministry (Pro-Emergent)
by Mark Yaconelli

Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church (Anti-Emergent)
by Don (D.A.) Carson

Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches: Five Perspectives (Pro-Emergent)
by Mark Driscoll

A Time of Departing (Anti-Emergent)
by Ray Yungen

They Like Jesus, But Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations (Pro-Emergent)
By Dan Kimball

Faith Undone (Anti-Emergent)
by Roger Oakland

Velvet Elvis (Pro-Emergent)
by Rob Bell

For Many Shall Come in My Name (Anti-Emergent)
by Ray Yungen

The Sacred Way (Pro-Emergent)
by Tony Jones

The Truth War (Anti-Emergent)
By John MacArthur

A Generous Orthodoxy (Pro-Emergent)
by Brian McLaren

Another Jesus (Anti-Emergent)
by Roger Oakland

The Barbarian Way (Pro-Emergent)
by Erwin McManus

The Other Side of the River (Biography)
By Kevin Reeves

Stumbling Toward Faith (Biography)
By Renee N. Altson

There Was a Fire in Town

This past Wednesday afternoon, at about 12:40 PM, on our way over the Gold Star Bridge, my daughter commented that some localized fog seemed to be rolling in off the river and up the hill toward an area of town known as Groton Bank. On closer examination, we both realized that the “fog” was actually smoke from a large fire that had started just minutes before...in the basement of Ken’s Tackle Shop, a local landmark on Thames Street.

Being the curious individual that I am, I immediately exited I-95 and headed toward the fire. Yes, I guess I am one of those obnoxious onlookers who get in the way of emergency response vehicles; but not really, as I did pull over to let a paramedic truck drive past. Once I was within a few blocks of the blaze, I was rerouted down a side street by a police officer since the river road had been shut down a good distance on either side of the fire. Just as well. The emergency crews didn’t need a bunch of gawkers getting in their way. Instead, I drove to the top of School Street, the short road that usually gives a great view of the front of the bait shop. Usually. Unless, of course, the entire store is engulfed in smoke and flame. Admitting defeat (and devoid of a camera), I went home.

Around 2:30 PM, just before music composition class, Katherine the Great and I returned to the top of School Street, parked our fresh-smelling Subaru next to the curb across from the library, and headed down the very steep hill toward the remains of Ken’s Tackle Shop. As long as we were on foot and weren’t making a nuisance of ourselves, the police officers allowed us to walk closer to the building. For us, that was about half a block. Smoke was still pouring from the structure, so much so that it was almost impossible to see the facade, even at that close distance. Once or twice, just as the wind came up off the water, the billowing white cloud of vapor parted momentarily to show charred brick around the front door and what used to be the display window (so much for that wooden sandpiper I was considering buying for my bathroom; he was most blackened ash by now). We spoke to a few of the residents, all of whom expressed their sadness at the loss of a long-time establishment...and their relief that the blaze wasn’t reaching another local favorite, Paul’s Pasta. Everyone seemed to be in shock. It was truly a challenging day for the neighborhood.

When I got back to my car (which was quite a jaunt up the hill) and hopped in, I became aware that the Subaru smelled of smoke. I know that should have been a no-brainer since I had just parked downwind from a fire, but I had secured all the windows despite the wonderfully balmy temperatures. Maybe the odor had wafted in through the ventilation system, I thought. Or up through the bottom of the car. No, it wasn’t because smoke had somehow sneaked into my automobile; it was because Kate and I reeked of smoke from standing near the storefront. Duh!

Now you may think that at that moment my thoughts would have turned to laundry methods by which I could remove the odor from my jacket and my car upholstery. Nope. My thought at that moment was how does my friend Janet, who is married to a firefighter (and whose husband’s firehouse actually responded to the Tackle Shop emergency), keep this smell out of her house? I have never heard her mention the challenge of keeping the smell of smoke out of her home. I wondered, too, if her husband has a permanent smoky smell. Landscapers have permanently dirty fingernails. Painters have paint splatters on their hands. Submariners often carry a hint of amine on their clothes from the air purifiers on the boat. Do firefighters smell smoky?

Just an unusual thought on an unusual day for my community.

For photos of the fire, visit the photo gallery at The Day. Click on "News events from around the region" and then look for “Fire at Ken’s Tackle Shop in Groton City.” For an article about the fire, click here.

Housewife’s Lament

This year, for Christmas, my daughter received a CD of American music entitled Behold That Star by the Christmas Revels. One of the songs on the album is “The Housewife’s Lament.” Apparently, the lyrics were found in the diary of a Victorian homemaker. The tune (which you are not privy to here, unfortunately) can be found in many traditional melodies of Irish and Scottish descent. I find the whole thing to be rather amusing; yet, for the woman who wrote these words, life may have been quite depressing. The last two verses do describe what I imagine Hell might be like for a homemaker. If you are feeling a bit blue about your household tasks this New Year, you may wish to lament with this housewife for a while, but remember, in Christ, our picture of everlasting life is much more uplifting.

One day I was walking,
I heard a complaining,
I saw a poor woman
The picutre of gloom.
She gazed at the mud
On her doorstep (‘twas raining),
And this was her song
As she wielded her broom:

Chorus:
“O life is a toil,
And love is a trouble,
Beauty will fade
And riches will flee,
Wages will dwindle
And prices will double
And nothing is as I
Would wish it to be.”

“There’s too much of worriment
Goes to a bonnet,
There’s too much of ironing
Goes to a shirt.
There’s nothing that pays for
The time you waste on it,
There’s nothing that lasts us
But trouble and dirt.”

Chorus

“In March it is mud,
It’s slush in December,
The midsummer breezes
Are loaded with dust.
In fall the leaves litter,
In muddy September
The wallpaper rots
And the candlesticks rust.”

Chorus

“There are worms on the cherries
And slugs on the roses,
And ants in the sugar
And mice in the pies.
The rubbish of spiders
No mortal supposes,
And ravaging roaches
And damaging flies.”

Chorus

“It’s sweeping at six
And it’s dusting at seven,
It’s victuals at eight
And it’s dishes at nine.
It’s potting and panning
From ten to eleven.
We scarce break our fast
Till we plan how to dine.”

Chorus

“With grease and with grime
From corner to centre,
Forever at war
And forever alert.
No rest for a day
Lest the enemy enter,
I spend my whole life
In the struggle with dirt.”

Chorus

“Last night in my dreams
I was stationed forever,
On a far distant rock
In the midst of the sea.
My one task of life
Was a ceaseless endeavor,
To brush off the waves
As they swept over me.”

Chorus

“Alas! ‘Twas no dream ---
Ahead I behold it,
I see I am helpless
My fate to avert!”
She lay down her broom,
Her apron she folded.
She lay down and died
And was buried in dirt.

Chorus

For a sample of this song, click here.

Happy New Year 2008

A collection of photos from New Year’s celebrations across the world yesterday, all set to that famous Hogmanay tune, “Auld Lang Syne.” Enjoy and may your New Year be blessed!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” --- Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)