HDTVforME!

We are a slightly strange family. We don't watch TV. We don't have cable, and only have old-style TV's with small screens but humongous boxes.

BUT.......we do watch DVDs. In fact it is one of our favorite family activities. Whether it is Stephen Hawking's The Universe, some BBC Dickens remake, or Lord of the Rings, we like us some DVDs.

In the past few years we have begun to lament our lack of a big screen that we see at, well, everyone else's house. Some movies are just meant to be seen on a big screen, awesome speakers and a dark room. The Matrix doesn't quite cut it on a 24 inch screen, ya know?

So, we decided that for Christmas this year, we would ask St. Nan Nan to help us buy a big HDTV. Instead of giving us all presents, we've asked her to write us a check which we will apply towards this purchase. It won't cover the whole shabang - but it will ease the pain significantly.

After looking around quite a bit, we decided on a Samsung 46in...bleah, bleah, bleah, can't remember all the numbers and details. But it's good. And we can order it from Amazon and have it delivered in 2 days! (do we really believe that? not sure...)

You can imagine my wonder and hope when I received an email from Amazon offering me the opportunity to enter a contest which gives me the chance to enter a race to possibly buy said HDTV at HALF PRICE! Of course, anyone who has been around the block a time or two knows that the odds are strongly against us winning this contest/race. But Hubby thought we could sweeten the odds be each of us entering individually, plus getting my mom and dad to enter as well (he's smart that way).

Lo and behold, while the rest of us got the "sorry, but you haven't been selected..." email, Hubby didn't. His Amazon account says the TV is available for purchase at HALF PRICE tomorrow morning at 6:30. To be exact, it says the race will start at 6:30am. What does that mean? We're not quite sure. But you can bet he'll be logged on before he goes to work tomorrow morning, credit card in hand, reading to join the race!

Are the odds still against us? Probably. But if we could swing this it would be so sweet!

Wish us luck!

Official Thanksgiving Post

This may be trite and overdone - but I don't care.

I truly am thankful for so many things, and this is the perfect time to share them. So here goes.

I am thankful:

- that Hubby has a good job that allows me to stay home and educate / raise the kiddos.

- for holiday baking with the kids with Tchaikovsky playing.

- that my family is healthy (knock, knock, knock).

- for good friends who listen to my rants and share their own.

- for a safe, cozy home.

- that we have enough to pay our property taxes (phew!).

- for my mom's successful knee surgery and a phenomenal recovery (in process).

- for our church, for loving us and teaching us how to follow Jesus better.

- that ARG has found a passion in fencing, Rosie in ballet and MiniMe in demanding that we read to her all the time.

- that Hubby loves and cherishes me.

There are more, but I don't want to go on and on.

What are you thankful for?

or in correct English:

For what are you thankful?

To Dog or Not to Dog

The inevitable has come.

My nine year old daughter wants a dog. She yearns for one. She dreams of one . She begs for one. Often.

Now, I love dogs as much as the next gal. Maybe even more. I've always considered myself a "dog person". Cats never had much of a chance due to my severe cat allergies. So I'm not against dogs in principle. I think they're great for families, awesome companions, potential protectors.

But they're SO MUCH WORK!

Getting a puppy is like having another baby. I've had dogs before and I know of what I speak. Potty training, Crate training. Leash training. Training, training, training. AND picking up poop! PLUS ruined furniture, clothes, toys...etc. from chewing and gnawing. AND the dog fur all over the house. ALSO having to find a dog sitter when we go away. And of course the dread fear that the pup will grow up to a.) bite b.) bark incessantly or c.) be aggressive with other dogs.

I just got my last child out of babyhood and toddlerhood! I don't know if I'm ready to dive back in! I like having older kids. I enjoy the freedom it entails.

But what can I say to a little girls' dreams of cuddly-wuddly soft puppy snuggles? Of a companion to play and romp with? Of walks around the hood with the ole hound?

I'm starting to cave. I think Hubby is pretty much still on the NO side of the fence. And seriously, we don't have the coin right now to drop on a puppy and puppy supplies.

I've told Rosie a few things about the POSSIBILITY of getting a dog:
1.) We must TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN the darn thing into perfection
2.) KIDS will be responsible for poop pick-up and feeding and walks.
3.) It will be a family dog - not just hers.
4.) Maybe in summer.......


What do you think?

Reading is Fun

I just LOVE reading.

I only wish I had more time to spend with my nose in a book. There are seasons in life, and mine right now is the busy season. So I'm lucky if I get an hour in the evening to read. If I'm not lucky I don't read for a few days.

As you may recall, Dickens is my favorite author. His sardonic perspective and ironic sense of humor match my own outlook pretty closely. And he's just plain funny. He mocks people that deserve mocking.

Currently I'm reading Nicholas Nickelby (by Dickens, of course). I'm trying to read all his works - only have three or four to go. I'm not sure if I want to read his Notes on America from his trip here. From what I can tell, he wasn't too impressed by the good ole' U S of A. In fact, he was deeply disappointed in what he saw. I'm really not in a mood to go there right now.

But Nickelby is highly entertaining so far. It probably helps that I watched a BBC dramatization of the book a few months ago, so the characters are not completely new to me. And the glimpse into 19th century London is always fascinating.

I am also reading Do Hard Things, a book written by two (twin) teenage boys about the myth of adolescence. The gist is that kids have been sold a lie: that the teen years are the time to party, be irresponsible, to lack motivation, and not achieve much of anything. They suggest that the teen years are like a diving board into life. If you work hard, stretch your comfort zone, and pursue your dreams you can hit a sweet spot, and leap off into your adult years. Or you can wake up in six or seven years with no skills, no experience, no motivation and no idea what to do next. It is very interesting.

Passing a love of reading to my kids is important to me. With ARG I can safely say I've been successful. Any free moment (in which the computer is unavailable), he is reading. Fantasy, science fiction, historical novels, nonfiction - he just reads. I'll never forget when he read an adaptation of the Oddessey when he was five: Black Ships Before Troy.

With Rosie I'm still working on it. She loves to be read to. But hasn't picked up the passion for books just yet. But I think (hope) she is turning a corner and beginning to enjoy reading more. Finding books that are at her level, and have interesting storylines is the trick. Not always easy to find easy chapter books with plenty of girls or fairies or horses or sparkles. Ya know?

MiniMe DEMANDS to be read to constantly. When she wakes up? "You're going to read this to me now." she states. Mom has any free time? "NOW you're going to read to me." I probably don't do it enough. I definitely don't read to her as much as I read to ARG and Rosie. In fact, I can safely say that I read exponentially less to each child as they came along. Not that I don't do it - but that I read for several hours every day to ARG when he was little. I just can't do that now.

Like I said, it's a busy season of life.

Facebook Finally

After enduring whole days of peer pressure from ARG, Hubby and various friends and family members, I caved and joined Facebook.

Does this make me officially cool?

Ah, yes. Yet another way to waste time on the computer.

And I know what ogblay means when he talks about all the people who want to be your "friend". What exactly is the value of learning about what an acquaintance from high school is doing this morning? But is it worse to offend by rejecting their requests to be "friends"? Hmm....

Another way to waste time benefit of facebook is that you can invite people to play scrabble. Anyone want to play? Well, if you can figure out how to find me on facebook, we can!

I'm doing my best to not get re-addicted to Tetris - another app available on fb.

Well, I'm late to the party. I never dreamed I'd be someone who would pay any attention to this kind of stuff. But here I am.

What the heck IS a libertarian?

I've come to the conclusion lately that most people do not really understand what it means to be a libertarian.

When I mention that I voted for Bob Barr and not Obama or McCain, I get blank looks, a polite chuckle and a quick change of the subject.

In general, I've found that folks think libertarians are quirkily eccentric at best, and just plain looney at worst. So, in my meager way I will attempt to share my libertarian beliefs in a simple, user-friendly way.

I call it the "Is it OK?" chart:


Is it OK for our government to:

- protect citizens' rights* from being violated by foreign aggressors? YES
- create ginormous standing armies with which to police the world? NO
- protect citizens' rights from being violated by other citizens? YES
- take money from some individuals and give it to others? NO
- create and administer a justice system to handle violators of the law? YES
- spy on, prosecute and imprison citizens for choosing to put
mood or mind altering substances in their bodies? NO
- use citizens' money to fund military interventions into
other countries' sovereign affairs? NO
-legislate morality? NO
-conscript citizens into the military? NO
-enforce equality before the law as impartially as possible? YES

* These include the human rights of life, liberty, property, "the pursuit of happiness", and the rights listed in the Bill of Rights (free speech, religions, press, trial by jury, habeus corpus...etc.). They do NOT include the right to free health care, food and housing.

That's a pretty good summary of my beliefs on the proper role of government. No drug war. No 567 military bases worldwide. No draft. No income tax.

And if you are going to ask how we'd pay for government, my first answer will be that we won't have to pay near as much because it won't cost near as much. My second answer would probably require research and another post and have something to do with tarriffs.

Just for kicks - check out the Political Compass. It's a pretty quick survey on where you stand politically. And even though I would've checked "Huh?" as an answer a few times, I mostly thought the questions were good. Here is where I ended up:

My daughters would approve. I'm purple.

What are you?

This is one of THOSE posts...

We all know I didn't vote for Obama.

But how cool is it that our country could elect a black man? It shows how we as Americans can change, grow and overcome. Yes, there is still racism in the U.S. But dang! We have a black president! That is a pretty darn strong statement about the overall resilience of our country. From slavery, to inequality and injustice, to racism to a black president all within 150 years! Pretty impressive to my mind.

My in-laws were here the past few days and they were big Obama fans. It was curious to observe how much they were into him. Every article. Every newscast. What kind of dog? What kind of dress? He offended Nancy Reagan already? I've never paid as much attention to our president elect as I have (vicariously) in the last few days. Pretty funny.

Sadly, just about everything else I'd like to write about is off limits. Too many people (especially family members!) read this blog. Hmph.

A few choice moments in my life recently:

- Looking down at my son and checking myself. I have to look eye to eye now.

- Realizing I can't listen to NPR too much anymore with MiniMe in the car, when she started asking if husbands were girls or boys.

- Hanging out at fencing where an old Scorpions cd blasted "Rock you like a hurricane". It is strange when kids like music that was mediocre way back when.

- Deciding to let Rosie walk home from ballet and worrying until she gets home each time.

- Helping my mom do her "torture" exercises after her knee replacement surgery. Her knee looks like Frankenstein (shudder). But she is doing very well.

- Looking at baby pictures of my three kiddos and seeing how YOUNG I looked 12 years ago!

- Trying to figure out how to actually take the sabbath as a day of rest. Church is great - but when I volunteer I have to stay half the day! Then there's laundry, meals and school planning for the week. Plus my blog is feeling much ignored lately!

Here's hoping your Sunday was restful.

Thoughts After the Election

Shared (with approval) from Wealth is Not the Problem:


150 years ago this country embroiled itself it a deadly and destructive war. Central to that conflict was the belief that is acceptable to profit from the forced labor of others.

It is not.

Slavery is wrong, not because one race subjugates another race, but because one individual thinks he owns the life of another individual.

He does not.

We no longer believe in chattel slavery, where one man can own another. But the belief still exists that we, as a community, have a moral claim on the productive labor of our neighbor.

We do not.

Each individual life is sacred. Each one of us is owner of his own life, his own labor, his own property, and only his own. Some believe you can compromise on one part of this trilogy without destroying the whole.

You can not.

Well meaning, thoughtful people confuse majority rule with individual rights. They are not the same. Without the absolute barrier to action drawn by inalienable rights, a majority is merely a mob.

Our country does need a change. We need to rededicate ourselves to the ideals upon which this country was founded: the individual rights of life, liberty and property. We need to apply them with rigorous consistency in every situation, to every individual. That is the meaning of equality before the law.

Freedom based on individual rights is the only path to peace and prosperity. I am saddened that to believe this is to be the new minority.

But this is still the freest country in the world. We are a people that can learn from our mistakes, and act to correct them. We can voice our disagreements and non-violently work to change each other's minds. We can live together, work side by side, and pursue our dreams and ideals, even though we disagree.

Yes, we can.

So sorry I haven't posted but....

Still coughing.

Busy, busy weekend.

In-laws coming in a few days.

Ack!