7 Quick Takes Friday

1. I’m sure you’ve seen the news reports of the devastation in Haiti.  Please continue to pray for that country and contribute to a reputable charity to help them rebuild.

2. I went four entire days without a migraine!!  Now I’m on the third day of a terribly wicked one.  Actually, I got a break for a while yesterday, so I did go out to lunch with a friend yesterday, but the migraine was back with a vengeance before bedtime.  EEK!

3. My darling husband, Mr. Math Tutor, turned 43 years old today.  I’m almost exactly 6 months younger than he is, so I can tease him about being older than I am during these few months.  We were going to go as a family to see Avatar and then out to dinner, but my migraine prevented that.  I slept a lot today, so we were able to go out to a quiet restaurant for a nice family meal.

4. A friend and I have decided that we are going to start having lunch together every Thursday when I don’t have a terrible migraine.  I’ve been so isolated the last couple of years that it’s been hard to maintain any real friendships.  A regular lunch date is a great way to prioritize this relationship.

5. I’ve suddenly developed a hankering to learn Fair Isle knitting.  I always thought it was entirely too complicated before, but I’ve developed enough other skills that I think I might tackle it this year.

6. I might not hate the Wii Fit.  Until the migraine started, I was actually exercising pretty regularly.  And some of the Wii Fit games are pretty fun.  I was even in first place on one of the games.  Of course, it was because no one else had played the game yet.  As soon as Wild Man played once, he was in first place.  Sigh.

7. I love our Roku box!  Tonight, Mr. Math Tutor and I introduced our children to the original Star Trek episodes!!  And, I think Wild Man may be a fan!  Mr. Math Tutor and I were laughing about the extra guy on the away team who always gets killed and the skimpy outfits of the female characters.  Wild Man actually enjoyed the plot.  Rosie Girl seemed to have a good time, but not as much as Wild Man.

Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday and see what others have been up to!!

A Knitting Money-Saver

Guess what??  I saved money on something knitting related!!  Can’t believe that, can you?  So, here’s what happened:

In the KnitPicks catalog, I saw their nifty magnetic pattern/chart holder.  It is only about $10 so I was planning to order one.  Then, I decided to try to figure out if I could do it less expensively.  I checked out Staples online to see if they had magnetic whiteboards, which they do, but they are quite expensive.  Office Depot has magnetic clipboards, but they are also $10.

I usually keep my pattern on a clipboard on a music stand.  So, I decided to put a piece of magnet paper, wrong side out, underneath my pattern.  Then, I cut some strips from another piece of magnet paper and use them to mark my place in the chart.  As I go from row to row, I just move the strip of magnet paper down the chart.

That’s it!!  A quick and easy way to keep from losing your place while knitting from a chart without buying the fancy chart holder.  Of course, I’m still drooling over all the lovely yarn . . . but that’s another story.

On Safety

Abraham Piper’s blog, 22 Words, had this to say yesterday:

A guest post by Wesley Hill.

Why does a Christian radio station bill itself as “safe for the whole family”? Whatever else Christianity is, it certainly isn’t that.

This reminds me of of a sequence in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you, he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea...."

"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he--quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

In our culture, we tend to think of Christianity as being “safe”. What is safety, though? If we are talking about being risk-free, with no chance of pain or suffering, then God and Christianity are most certainly not “safe”.

When we give our lives to Jesus, we start a on an amazing adventure, but it’s not a risk-free adventure. In fact, Jesus himself tells us “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). This is not the only time that this sentiment is expressed by Jesus. In Matthew 10, we are told to expect to be arrested and persecuted on Jesus’ account. Not exactly a “safe” faith.

So, why in the world should we follow Jesus? From what I’ve just written, it sounds like Christians must be psychotic!! The reason is found in the second quote – because Jesus is good – and he’s God. (In the book, Aslan is the character that represents Jesus.) We may not expect safety here on earth, yet we can expect abundant life!! I know that’s some kind of crazy paradox.

I think the best place to try to understand this (although, I don’t think we’ll ever really get it until we meet Jesus face to face) is in the book of Philippians. Paul tells us in this letter about having joy in spite of our earthly sufferings. Paul writes in the fourth chapter that he has learned to be content whatever his circumstances. The whole book encourages us to live life for Jesus, to pray regularly, and to keep our thoughts on Jesus. These are some of the steps we can do to keep walking with Jesus.

And even though every step is a new and exciting adventure, we can have peace that, whatever happens here on this earth, we have a Savior who loves us and is waiting for us. So, let us give up this illusion of having a “safe”, comfortable life that we control, and let Jesus tell us where to go and what to do next!!

P.S. I feel sure that the radio station advertisement was trying to say that their programming and ads are family-friendly, without foul language or other objectionable material.

Saturday Night

I’m not really looking forward to Monday.  Rosie Girl is feeling MUCH better today and will almost surely go to school for choir and art next week as well as start her homeschool work.  I’m just not feeling ready to get back to it.

Today was the first day that I haven’t had a significant headache in over a week.  Much of what I’m feeling is just physical and emotional fatigue.  I did exercise a little today, which I’m hoping will help.

I’ve already decided on some things to make next week easier to manage.  Most of this week’s schoolwork for Rosie Girl is just going to be cancelled – she won’t miss much by not doing a week’s worth of grammar or vocabulary.  I’m going to have her read her History and Bible assignments, but not worry about the accompanying questions.  Her science is already going to finish before the end of the school year, so I’ll just make some adjustments and she’ll get all that in.  Thankfully, she didn’t have a WriteAtHome assignment due this week – it’s not due till the 14th, and I’m confident she has time to finish it by then.

Mr. Math Tutor has kept the kitchen pretty clean and got the Christmas decorations put away.  Not much longer before we can have our living room and dining room back to non-Christmas status.  Our church is bringing us some meals so that we don’t have to worry about cooking for the next several days.

So I don’t think my problem is an overwhelming amount of work.  It’s just recovering from the last couple of weeks.  The headaches are rough and I’m learning to work around those.  Add to that, Rosie Girl’s surgery and complications and it’s just been a long couple of weeks.

Wild Man and I may watch a few more movies – we watched documentaries about the War of 1812 and about Andrew Jackson this week – if I’m not up to keeping up with his reading.  I am loving my new Roku box for educational movies!!!

I told my Facebook friends that I think we should start 2010 today instead of last week.  Let’s leave the events of the last week in 2009 and start 2010 with a clean slate – whatcha think??

7 Quick Takes Friday – 1/8/2010

This first full week of 2010 has been a rough one!  We are quite thankful for modern medicine, technology, and our wonderful family at church.

1. We are so glad to be a part of a small group in our church.  Our small group leader called this morning to remind us of our small group meeting tomorrow night.  I told her that we might not be there because of our difficult week – she said that if we were there, we’d all enjoy ice cream together, but if we weren’t there, the rest of them would pray for us (and still enjoy the ice cream, I assume).

2. Our church is also bringing some meals for us in the next few days.  The friend who is also in charge of the meals ministry saw on Facebook that we were having a bad time, so she offered to have the ministry provide meals for a few days.  It will be very nice to be able to try to get life back together without having to worry about feeding the family.  What a great church family!!

3. Rosie Girl had another rough day yesterday, partly because she is just plain tired of sweet foods.  Hot and warm foods seemed to be making her pain worse but the only really cold foods that we could think of were sweet and Rosie Girl desperately wanted something savory.  Mr. Math Tutor finally tried room temperature mashed potatoes.  It doesn’t sound all that appetizing to me, but Rosie Girl was happy.

4. Last night, at 11:30pm, Rosie Girl was frustrated because she was in pain but had to wait another hour for her pain medicine.  I lay on the sofa with her and we watched Comedy Angels from Netflix on the Roku.  Between the distraction and the laughter, she made it to 12:30am and her pain meds (and bedtime).  This morning, she woke up feeling significantly better – still in pain, but much more like her old self!

5. I ordered myself a new mp3 player, but it didn’t come with a strap or belt clip.  Yesterday, I used some leftover fingering weight yarn (silk/wool blend) and made a little pouch that goes around my neck.  I felt so accomplished.  And I love the mp3 player – it holds about 10x more than my previous player did!

6. The Wii Fit and I are not going to be good friends, I don’t think.  I love the games, but I have been on it very irregularly because of my headaches.  Whenever I sign in, the board starts telling me about the importance of regular exercise – I want to scream, “BUT I’VE HAD A MIGRAINE FOR THREE DAYS, YOU STUPID MACHINE!”  I think the fact that I want to yell at a computer may indicate that I have issues.  Maybe.

7. The week before New Years, we bought Rosie Girl a Yamaha digital piano for her room.  Last spring, she borrowed a friend’s keyboard/digital piano and played for hours every day because she could play with headphones.  Given how much Rosie Girl plays right now, we decided it was time to get her an instrument that she can play whenever she wants.  She is one happy girl!!

How has your week been?  Anything exciting going on?  Check out 7 Quick Takes Friday to see what others have been up to!

Homeschooling Challenge – Clutter

One of the biggest challenges to homeschooling – based on what I hear at homeschool support meetings and read on homeschooling forums – is clutter!!  I think we all have times when we wonder if there is really a floor under all that stuff in the living room.  We have been known to search for days for a book.  Let’s talk a little about clutter in a homeschooling house!

Causes of clutter

• Kids who are educated at home spend most of the day at home, giving them lots of opportunity to make clutter – there’s also lots of opportunity to clean it up, but somehow THAT seems to happen far more rarely!!
• Homeschooling families generally have lots of educational supplies and books (even when we use the library regularly – how does that happen?).
• Homeschooling parents are so busy educating the kids and making sure that the family is fed that housework often gets pushed aside. 

Aggravating factors for our family (I’m sure you have your own list)

• It’s hard for me to keep up with household clutter with my frequent headaches.
• Our current house is too small for our stuff.  Of course, Mr. Math Tutor would say that we have too much stuff for our house.  Whatever.
• Living in The Great White North, we have snow for 3-4 months which means that we have lots of added coats, gloves, hats, scarves, etc. to add to our mix of stuff.

How to deal with the clutter (Please note that I’m not remotely an expert here – I’m just giving you ideas that work for me and I’ll be asking you to comment and tell us what has worked in your home.)

• Daily chores – My kids have chores to do every day that include keeping the living room vacuumed (requiring that it is at least straightened first).  We’re not perfect about getting them done all the time, but it’s a start.

• Bookcases – We have bookcases filled with books in the living room, dining room , schoolroom (Rosie Girl’s and Mr. Math Tutor’s office), sunroom (my and Wild Man’s office), the landing of the stairway, the upstairs hallway, the master bedroom, and Rosie Girl’s bedroom.  In fact, every room except the bathroom and Wild Man’s room has at least one bookcase.  (The bathroom is too small and humid, and Wild Man just keeps a pile of books near his desk in his room.)

• Boxes – I keep the rest of our supplies in plastic boxes (Rubbermaid or Sterilite).  So, there is a box with microscope slides, another with dissection supplies, another with various art supplies, etc.  These boxes are kept in closets in the schoolroom and in the basement.  (By the way, I just adore these sliding trays in the schoolroom!!  We keep games on the top three shelves and plastic boxes on the bottom two.)

• Each child has their own desk.  Rosie Girl and Mr. Math Tutor share an office  (in what we call the schoolroom) in which they both have desks.  Rosie Girl works at her desk some of the time, but it is a good place for her to store her things.  Wild Man’s desk is in the sunroom with my desk.  Every few months, I have the kids clean up their desks.

• School throughout the house.  We didn’t have any room for a world map in our schoolroom, so we put it in the dining room.  Now, we have a world and US map in our dining room.  It’s actually rather convenient because we refer to it during dinner time discussions more often than we expected!  We use whatever space is available!

• Library basket – I keep a large basket in the living room for library books.  Of course, the kids end up taking the books to their rooms, but before they start reading a book or after they are done with it, the books (or CDs) go into the library basket.  This shortens the book search right before our library trips.

• Phone baskets – We have an antique radio (a large piece of furniture) in our dining room that mostly just looks nice.  I put four baskets on the radio along with a power strip so that we can all keep our phones in the baskets when they’re not in use and they can be charged using the power strip.  The kids can also use the power strip to charge their video games.  Our family whiteboard is right above this.

 

So, what about you?  How do you manage clutter in your home?  Enquiring minds want to know!!  I want to know!!

Check out Thirsty Thursday for more great homeschooling posts!

 

An Inauspicious Start to 2010

Back in the fall, scheduling Rosie Girl’s tonsillectomy for December 31, 2009 seemed like a smart thing to do.  We figured she’d only miss a couple of days of choir at school and it wouldn’t be hard to modify her homeschool work for the first week of January.  She’s a healthy kid, so her recovery was expected to be short and sweet.

Well, it hasn’t been.  The first week of 2010 has been less than stellar, shall we say?  Actually, the first few days after surgery weren’t too bad – well, at least, they were what we expected.  Rosie Girl took lots of pain meds and nausea meds.  On the third or fourth day, she started to get more nauseous and even threw up once, so we made sure to keep up with the nausea meds.  The pain meds were reasonably effective, but when I called the ENT’s office, they said that it was too early to use ibuprofen in addition to the other pain meds.  (Ibuprofen and aspirin-type medications prevent platelets from sticking together normally.  After some kinds of surgery, these medications are not allowed because of the risk of bleeding.  This is important later in the story!)

Rosie Girl didn’t make it to school Monday or Tuesday and didn’t look like she was going to go on Wednesday, either.  Since she only takes two classes, we weren’t terribly worried.  Wild Man got a little bit of work at home done on Monday and Tuesday, but those days were limited by my headaches (which has been going on for a full week).  Not only that, but we just plain forgot that Wild Man had band class on Tuesday afternoon!  Yeah, I know, not terribly responsible on the parenting side of things.  In our defense, Rosie Girl was still needing plenty of attention.

At 7pm on Tuesday night, Rosie Girl started having some bleeding from the back of her throat.  The ENT had warned us about this (said it happens about 5% of the time in teens) and had given us instructions on what to do if it happened.  So, Rosie Girl put a popsicle against the back of her throat to try to constrict the blood vessels.  It didn’t work immediately, so I called the ENT on-call.  While I was on the phone with him, Rosie Girl got the bleeding to stop with the popsicle.  So, armed with new instructions, we went back to watching TV while Rosie Girl drank ice water and sucked on popsicles.

At 2:30am on Wednesday morning, though, Rosie Girl knocked on our bedroom door to tell us that the bleeding had started again.  And, this time, after 20 minutes, it still hadn’t stopped.  So, the ENT on-call said he’d meet us in the ER.  We all (including Wild Man and Mr. Math Tutor) bundled into the car and drove into the city to the “big hospital” ER where we met the ENT.  Thankfully, the bleeding stopped about the time we got in the car, but we weren’t taking any chances.  This episode had lasted well over 30 minutes so she needed to be looked at.  We were quite fortunate – the ER was incredibly quiet, so there was no waiting and Rosie Girl had two nurses to get her all hooked up to monitors, etc.

Well, to make a long story not quite book length, the ENT said that Rosie Girl needed to have the spot on her throat cauterized which required another trip to the OR.  Rosie Girl didn’t really seem to mind this so much.  Once the i.v. was in place, Rosie Girl was just ready to have it done.  She seemed pretty nonchalant about the whole “surgery” part of things – it was quite a change from a week previous when she was so nervous about surgery.

Since the surgery was done before the regular working day started, Rosie Girl did her recovery in the pediatric wing, so she got a stuffed animal and a fleece blanket to bring home with her!  (Several weeks ago, Rosie Girl went to a project at the high school where they made fleece blankets for this pediatric department.  She said this pattern didn’t look familiar, so it might have come from another volunteer group, but it was a neat coincidence.)  We finally were able to bring her home at about 9:30am.

We got home and all went right back to bed.  Mr. Math Tutor had called all the appropriate people from the hospital to cancel his appointments for the day and to let the school know that the kids wouldn’t be there.  I called the Nutrition Site to tell them that Wild Man and I wouldn’t be there.

Now, it’s almost midnight and I’m about ready to go back to bed.  Rosie Girl is asleep on the sofa.  She’s been doing well with pain and doing a very good job of staying hydrated.  Wild Man is going to do some schoolwork tomorrow – I let him watch lots of TV today – and even going to go to his band class!  If my headache is calmed down, I hope to start taking down Christmas decorations.  But, the first priority is making sure that Rosie Girl is recovering well.

I’m praying that we’re getting the major stress of the year all done with in the first week!!  And praying that your 2010 is much calmer than ours so far!!

Lagniappe 1/5/2010

Yay!!  The first Lagniappe post of the New Year!!  Hang on for lots of random stuff!

• Rosie Girl had her tonsils out last Thursday.  She was only in the OR for about 40 minutes.  From what I know about OR procedures, I’m guessing that the actual surgery must have taken all of 10 minutes!  Nonetheless, recovery has not been easy.  She has been taking lots of pain medicine and nausea medicine.

• To add to the post-tonsillectomy fun, Rosie Girl started having bleeding from the back of her throat tonight.  The doctor told us that, if she had this complication, it would be obvious, and he was right.  She only lost about 5 or 10 cc’s of blood, but that sure looks like a lot when it’s been spit into the toilet bowl.  Thankfully, Rosie Girl got it to stop pretty quickly by holding a popsicle to the back of her throat for a couple of minutes.  Not only did the bleeding stop, but so did Rosie Girl’s (and my) anxiety.  Whew.

• I got my new mp3 player today and I love it.  My old one played music quite well, but it had a bad habit of not letting me fast forward to the middle of a chapter in an audiobook.  I could fast forward to about 10 minutes and then it would skip to the end of the track.  This new one allows me to fast forward or rewind to wherever I want in the track.  It also lets me do playlists which the other player was supposed to do, but never did.

• We’ve been watching lots of Star Wars movies – both old (i.e. my generation with Harrison Ford) and new.  Mr. Math Tutor and Wild Man bought them on DVD to help amuse Rosie Girl while she’s recovering.

• Wild Man and I did a spelling review today and I was amazed at what he remembers from before the holidays!!  He is doing quite well.  I am going to have him start writing sentences this week so we can start working on actually doing writing (as in paragraph writing) later this spring.

• Mr. Math Tutor bought me some Rubbermaid containers so that we can store our Christmas decorations in Rubbermaid instead of the disintegrating cardboard boxes that we’ve been using.  Unfortunately, right when I started to take ornaments off the tree was when Rosie Girl started bleeding from her throat tonight.  Our house is a disaster and I’m just not emotionally prepared to deal with it.

• In the middle of all this chaos, I’ve had a headache (most of the time a migraine) for the last week.  Rotten timing, I know.  The house cleaning is probably not going to get done any time soon.  Blah.

So, that’s what’s up around here.  Not terribly exciting, if you don’t count bleeding and panicking, which I’m trying to block out of my consciousness.  How has your 2010 been so far?

Temptation

Tonight, I read in Matthew about John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. After that, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert. Then, Satan came to Jesus and tempted him – talk about kicking a guy when he’s down. I don’t know about you, but being hungry, hot, and tired makes me pretty vulnerable. I’m guessing that Satan chose that moment to tempt Jesus because his defenses were down.

But, Jesus didn’t give in to the temptation. I’ve heard some people say things like “Yeah, but Jesus was God.” Indeed, Jesus is God, but when Jesus was on earth, he was also 100% human. He resisted temptation the same way that you and I do – by relying on God the Father. Notice that all of Jesus’ answers to Satan were Scripture. Jesus didn’t mess around with any arguments – he just quoted the words of God the Father.

The same thing happens to us. Satan attacks us when we are weakest – when we’re in pain, tired, or stressed. But we have the same power available to us that Jesus had – the words of God the Father.

Whatever it is you struggle with, remember that Jesus dealt with the same thing when he was on earth. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

No matter what’s going on in our lives, we have Jesus who has been through this before us. And, he’ll walk through today and tomorrow and forever right beside us. What wonderful comfort that brings!!

Abundant Life

Until a couple of months ago, we thought that our income would significantly decrease in about 18 months. Because of that, we have been living very frugally, trying to save up money and pay off some leftover debt. A few months ago, we found out that we had misunderstood some things and that we actually will not have a decrease in our income. We have been living as if we were poorer than we really are.

It’s very easy for us to live our spiritual lives this same way. As believers, we have access to God’s unspeakable love, grace, joy, and more!! But, too often, we live in fear and worry. It’s easier to sit back in our comfortable Christian lives of doing what’s easy and not taking any risks. God has so much more for us, though. All we have to do is reach out for this abundant life we’ve been promised. Jesus said (in John 10:10), “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”

When we move through our fear and really trust God, the rewards are huge. A few years ago, our family went to Venezuela for a week’s worth of mission work at a boys’ ranch. It was a real step of faith, but the joy and love was amazing!

C. S. Lewis put it well in a sermon in 1941: “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

And here’s how Steven Curtis Chapman interprets this idea.

God’s promises are truly amazing and I want to live life “to the full” in serving God! How have you learned to live God’s abundant life? How has Jesus been truly real in your life?

P.S. I don’t mean to suggest in the first paragraph that we shouldn’t live frugally even when our income allows for a more extravagant lifestyle. That’s a whole ‘nother discussion!! I’m just trying to make the point that we were living with incorrect information.

Seven Quick Takes Friday – 1/1/2010

Wow – It’s 2010!  It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s already a new year!!  And this is the first meme of 2010.  So, here goes . . .

1. I took lots of pictures before Christmas, but none of December 24-26.  It’s not really a big deal, but it seems a little strange – lots of pictures before the holiday, but none on the holiday itself.

2. I got myself a new purse that came in the mail yesterday.  It doesn’t seem like much of a big deal, but it really is for me.  When I quit working, I put my nice black leather purse in the closet.  For one thing, it was getting old and torn up.  But, for another thing, it was a representation of my working life and putting it away was a sign that I was now a stay-at-home mom.  But, I’ve been using a purse that I knitted or a bag that Mr. Math Tutor crocheted.  The problem is that they don’t have any organization to them, so I can’t ever find my cell phone (or anything else, for that matter) when I need it.  The new purse is similar to my old one (they’re both from Wilson’s leather) with several pockets and an organizer section so I don’t need a wallet.

3. One of my goals for 2010 is to read my American Family Physician journals.  I read a lot, but I haven’t been reading any medical journals or articles.  I don’t think I’ll be going back to work this year unless something drastic happens, but I do want to keep up with what’s going on in the world of medicine.  I want to work eventually, so I hope that reading regularly will keep me up on the newest developments.

4. We gave my nephew (age 8) The Dangerous Book for Boys for a Christmas present.  Wild Man has that book and has been making up secret codes so he sent an email to his cousin with a coded message and the page number where the key to the code is.  His cousin sent back a message yesterday and Wild Man wrote up another one today.  I think this is going to be good for both of them!

5. Rosie Girl had her tonsillectomy yesterday.  She actually didn’t feel too poorly yesterday, but is definitely feeling icky today.  I had my tonsils out when I was 4 years old, and I’m glad I don’t remember it.  But, Rosie Girl is doing a good job of taking her pain medicine and getting in lots of fluids.  The next few days are going to be rough, but I’m sure it will all be fine next week.

6. The Wii Fit is going to be a great thing for our family.  I have a hard time getting Wild Man to do physical activity during the winter.  Usually, he just walks on the treadmill for 30 minutes a day.  With the Wii Fit, though, he has done lots of different activities for up to a couple of hours a day.

7. I find it difficult to exercise when I have headaches, but I think I can do some of the Wii Fit yoga or balance exercises as long as the headache isn’t too terrible (even if I wouldn’t normally want to walk on the treadmill).  Of course, I am also finding that I’m not in great shape because I’m quite sore after doing much of anything with the Wii Fit.  I suppose this is good, though.

Check out what others have to say at 7 Quick Takes Friday!!

Christmas Memories – 2009

Our family has had a great holiday season this year.  I’ve already posted about all the musical performances that were part of our holidays.    The kids and I made Christmas cookies to send to some of our family members.  We read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever as a family for the first time this year – I think it’s going to be a tradition because we loved it so much.  We also read parts of Letters to Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkein as well as other Christmas read-alouds.

Of course, I did some knitting for my family.  And, of course, I forgot to take pictures.  You’ll have to use your imagination.  I made these gloves for my mom and my sister-in-law.  They were together when they opened their gifts, so I made one pair navy blue and another pair brown and told them that they could exchange if they preferred the other person’s color.

I did hats in camouflage patterned yarn for my nephews.  I made a pair of socks for my brother and started a pair for my dad and plan to make a pair for my husband.  For Rosie Girl, I found a really cool mitten pattern with owls on them.  Wild Man is a huge Packer fan, so I made him a Packer hat.  I did it without a pattern, as usual, but didn’t really pay attention to the number of stitches I was using.  I finished the pattern on the night of the 23rd.  When I fastened off, I realized that it was the size of a doll hat!!  So, I started another one and finished it yesterday.  And this time, it fits.

Santa was very generous this year.  The whole family got Wii Fit Plus.  The kids really enjoy it.  Mr. Math Tutor and I like it despite the soreness that it causes!  Rosie Girl got an iPod Touch from Santa while Wild Man got several video games.  Grams and Grandpa gave Rosie Girl a tenor ocarina which has a lower range than her current ocarina.  They (along with me and Mr. Math Tutor) gave Wild Man some new Legos.

I got a Roku from Santa so that we can watch Netflix movies on the TV instead of just the computer screen.  Rosie Girl gave me a Snuggie and Wild Man gave me a really cool pillow with ribbons to hold my book so I can read hands-free.  I also got the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook, a couple of knitting books, and some jewelry.  My family knows what I like!!  I’m a very happy woman!  (And I’ve changed my mind on the socks I’m making for my dad since I got a new knitting book!!)

On the day after Christmas, we had our “Christmas Dinner” which we shared with a friend and her two kids.  I made some good, old-fashioned Southern food – roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, iced tea, pecan pie, and fudge pie.  The kids had a blast playing games.

Since then, we’ve been mostly hanging around the house and enjoying our Christmas gifts until yesterday.  But, the story of Rosie Girl’s tonsillectomy is for another post.

I hope you and your family had a great Christmas and are enjoying 2010!!

Holiday Performances

Christmas season around here means lots of music and performances!!  There are recitals, concerts, and church performances.  I try not to add too much more to our schedule so we can enjoy the music of the season!

Mr. Math Tutor plays bass guitar at church and had requested an Ashbory bass guitar for Christmas.  At Thanksgiving, the kids and I gave him permission to order the Ashbory as his Christmas gift.  He was thrilled!  And, because he got it well before Christmas, he has been able to play it during the Christmas season.

 

 

 

Rosie Girl played the first movement of a Mozart Sonata at her piano recital.

 

 

 

 

Wild Man was part of the kids’ Christmas program at church.  Rosie Girl sang with the adult choir while Mr. Math Tutor played bass guitar.  I just took pictures!!  You can see a video of the performance here.

 

 

 

 

Rosie Girl sang with the high school choir.  She also sang with the Madrigals at the choir concert and several other performances.

 

 

 

 

Rosie Girl accompanied the choir at church for a Christmas special.  This was her first time to accompany on piano.  And you can also see Mr. Math Tutor playing his new bass guitar.

I have great memories of the music of Christmas 2009!!

New Year’s Eve Eve

So I sat down to write a post about our Christmas since I haven’t written anything in a very long time.  But, the stress level in this house is at about 1000 on a scale of 1 to 10, so I don’t think I’m going to do much writing.  Why are we stressed?  Rosie Girl is having her tonsils out at 8am tomorrow.  From a purely medical point of view, this is not a big deal.  I had my own tonsils out when I was four years old, so I don’t actually remember it.  When I was in practice, I had tons of patients who had tonsillectomies so they were kind of run-of-the-mill for me.

But, it ain’t run-of-the-mill when it’s my own kid.  Nope.  For one thing, we have to leave the house at 5:30am.  The middle of the night.  We have to be at the surgery center at 6:30 and the procedure is at 8am.  I know that they won’t have her occupied for the full hour and a half before the procedure, so we have to make sure she has a bag packed with ipod, books, etc. tonight.

Of course, Rosie Girl is nervous.  I’d like to say that I’m not nervous but that’s not actually true.  Because I am.  Not so much about the outcome but because it’s a big deal and because Rosie Girl is going to have a few days of feeling really yucky afterwards.  And because it’s my kid who’s going to have general anesthesia.  I’d be much calmer if it was me.

And we have to make sure to pack plenty of stuff to keep Wild Man from getting too bored.  Video games, books, audiobooks, etc.  And, there is a man from church upstairs at the hospital recovering from a stroke, so Wild Man and Mr. Math Tutor will probably take a few minutes and visit him.

Of course, I had a migraine last night and today.  So I’ll be packing every migraine medication in the cabinet for tomorrow.  It looks like the weather system is supposed to be past us by tomorrow so the headache shouldn’t be too big an issue.

So, I’ll write a post about Christmas sometime in the next few days.  In the meantime, I’m going to go pack up snacks (for those of us who are allowed to eat tomorrow!) and boredom busters for tomorrow.

Pray for us.  All of us.

Mission Love Our Neighbors – Steps 1 and 2

Our neighbors are difficult to love.  Not the family with kids – they are great people, our kids play together, and we watch each other’s houses when we’re out of town.  Not the couple across the street – they are very sweet and have a cute little great-grandson that they watch during the week.  And not the couple a few houses over – they gave us a van a year ago (yeah – GAVE us a van for free) so we really like them.  No, it’s the neighbors on the other side of our house that we’re having issues with. 

The house is a rental and has been occupied for the last month or so by young people who look like they’re just out of high school.  They play loud music.  They ride a snowmobile in the front yard late at night.  They wait a very long time to shovel their part of the sidewalk (and then don’t keep it well-shoveled).  The police have been there to visit several times.  The owner of the house lives several hours away, so she came by a few weeks ago because a neighbor had called anonymously to complain.  The occupants haven’t done anything illegal or that looks like it would violate the lease, but they are just hard to live near.

So, I complain.  That is the Godly thing to do, right?  No, you’re right, of course.  Complaining is rarely useful or Christlike.  Normally, we take over a loaf of bread or cookies within a week or two of someone moving in nearby, but I never got around to it this time.  And, now, I’m not really all that interested in trying to get to know these kids.

And then the Holy Spirit smacks me across the face (metaphorically, of course).  In Matthew 5:43-44, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”  I don’t even know these kids enough for them to be my “enemies”.  If I should love my enemies, then I certainly need to be able to love the kids next door.

Step 1 – Pray.  I’ve started that.  I need to do it lots more.  And quit complaining (‘cause that’s a really rotten example for my children – EEK!)

Step 2 – Christmas cookies.  Who doesn’t love Christmas cookies?!  I baked a bunch of cookies the other day, so I’ll take a bag over to the house this afternoon.

Step 3 – I have no idea.  Mostly it will involve doing good and not complaining.  And more praying.  Can’t forget praying.

How do you love people who are hard to love?  What other ideas can you give me?  Any great stories of how God has changed you or the person you loved?  (Yeah, I could use a little motivation!!)

Book Review – What Women Don’t Know (and a Bonus!)

First, I have to make a short apology.  The actual Value Gifts Blog Tour was last week, so I’m late posting my reviews.  I was sick with one of my worst migraines last week, though, so I wasn’t up to reading or writing.  But, I’m up and about now, and ready to write!!

For the Value Gifts Blog Tour, I received two books to read and review: What Women Don’t Know (and men don’t tell you) and 99 Ways to Increase Your Income.

What Women Don’t Know by Michelle McKinney Hammond and Joel A Brooks Jr. is written to help single women looking for lasting love.  They set the book up into chapters describing 14 “rules” such as “Be patient”, “Know what you want”, and “Know your value”.  Each chapter is built on an important principle and is liberally supported with Scripture.

The one problem I had with reviewing this book is that I’ve been out of the dating arena for close to 20 years!  (Can it really be that long?)  Nonetheless, I found the author’s advice to be practical and on-target.  They encourage women to develop their lives as individuals while waiting for their lifelong love.  The writing was clear and the authors used scripture to support their positions.  The only real negative I found was that this book is pretty much the same as the books I read when I was single.  I think that this book is the Christian dating handbook for the current generation and I can definitely recommend it.

99 Ways to Increase Your Income by Frank Martin was a pleasant little surprise for me.  From the title, I expected a book about actually bringing more money into the household, but the author is really talking about anything that brings money in or keeps money from going out.  He starts with some brief words on managing money then moves on to tips on saving money, ways to improve your job situation, and ends with some information on saving and investing.  This short book is obviously not a comprehensive book on money management, but it has some helpful information and goes along nicely with the principles taught by Dave Ramsey.  It would make a nice stocking stuffer, particularly for a young adult who is just starting to develop their financial habits.

Both books are available online:  99 Ways to Increase Your Income and What Women Don’t Know.  I received a free copy of each book for this blog review.

Fear Not!!

My kids (OK, and the grown-ups, too) love to listen to Jungle Jam. One of our favorite bits is from the Christmas episode.

Angel: (In very deep voice) Fear not!!

Shepherds: Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!

Angel: Fear not!!!

Shepherds: Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!

Angel: What part of “Fear not” do you not understand?!

I can understand why the shepherds might have been a bit nervous. I mean, they’re out in the fields minding their own business when other-worldly beings appear in the sky and start speaking to them. Yeah, pretty fear-inducing in my world!

So, what did the angels mean by “Fear not!” On a surface level, it’s pretty clear that they were trying to say, “Hey, we’re the good guys so you don’t need to run off and leave the sheep and lose your jobs!” We’ve already established that other-worldly beings appearing in the sky is not a normal event and one might think that it’s not necessarily a good thing. The first thing the angels need to get across to the shepherds is that the angels are on the good side and have good news for them.

But then, they give them the news that a baby has been born. OK, tell me how this is fear-inducing!! It’s not like they said that the neighboring village had just been firebombed or something. They said a baby was born in a barn. I picture these shepherds saying to each other, “Ya know, the peace on earth thing is great, but I’m not really seeing how the baby thing fits in.” But, when an angel tells you to go worship, I’m guessing that you go worship. (I’m not speaking from experience here.)

I think, though, that the angels were saying something deeper when they said, “Fear not!” I have no idea if the shepherds ever really got the whole picture or not. But, God was saying, “Don’t be afraid that everything is about to change. Don’t be afraid that all you’ve known about religion is about to come to fruition in the next 33 years.” If the shepherds could have seen what was going to happen over the next 33+ years, I’m betting there would have been some serious fear going on!! The change is good, though.

Because of what happened on that night in Bethlehem (which was likely in the spring, by the way), we don’t have to be afraid! God’s plan was played out exactly the way it was supposed to. Jesus went from baby to child to adult to crucified to resurrected. Now, we need never fear. Remember that perfect love casts out all fear. All because of that first Bethlehem morning when the angels told the shepherds to “Fear Not!”

The Week From H*ll

So, this week has truly been one of the worst weeks that I can remember. And I really hate that it is during the Christmas season. I love Christmas! So, when a week like this happens during the Christmas season, it’s even worse.

What happened to make it so awful? Mostly, the migraine. I did have a little intestinal virus on Monday that made me feel kind of icky, but things weren’t too terrible. Tuesday was when everything went downhill so badly. The blizzard that came through gave me one of the worst migraines that I’ve ever had. Normally, Mr. Math Tutor would have just taken me to the Emergency Department for an IV and some heavy duty meds, but we were in the middle of a blizzard and it wasn’t safe to drive. So, I took my meds by mouth until I was throwing up too much. Then, I took the one med that I have in suppository form. Mostly, I lay on the sofa with an ice pack on my head until I needed to run to the bathroom to throw up. I thought my head was going to explode and my insides were going to turn inside out. It was an awful night. (But, I do have to say that it was pretty cool to watch the snow come down and swirl around – we got over a foot of snow and the winds were pretty wicked!)

I finally fell asleep around 8am Wednesday morning. The time that I was awake on Wednesday I still felt rotten just because I was so sore from vomiting. I had another migraine Thursday morning, but it only lasted about an hour, partly because I threw every medication in the cabinet at it!! I had pretty vivid memories from Tuesday night.

Today was better since I didn’t have a migraine, but I have had a dull headache all day. And, of course, I’m still sore all over. I was finally able to get on the treadmill for about ten minutes this evening. I’ve gotten some reading and knitting done in the last couple of days, but absolutely no housework.

Mr. Math Tutor has gone above and beyond the call of duty in taking care of me during the migraine and taking care of the house. He’s usually very good about keeping the house going when I have migraines anyway, but he didn’t get much sleep Tuesday night, either. And, he had to deal with the foot of snow in our driveway on Wednesday – when he had had very little sleep. He deserves a medal!

So, why blog about this? For one thing, it’s therapeutic for me to see this in written form. It also reminds me that it’s temporal. Even though I couldn’t go to the Emergency Department Tuesday night like I wanted to, I kept telling myself that the migraine wouldn’t last forever. I held on to the fact that the headache would only last a few hours. The migraines are miserable and they seriously disrupt my life, but I just need to hang on because the individual migraine will end eventually.

I also write so that other migraineurs can see that they aren’t alone with this awful illness. Not only are there lots of other people out there with migraines, but, more importantly, God is with us even in the worst of our pain. The Bible tells us to “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). God may not choose to take away my pain. His plan may include my being in pain. But, it doesn’t include leaving me or deserting me. “Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

7 Quick Takes Friday – The Christmas Traditions Edition

 

For today’s 7 Quick Takes Friday, I decided I’d share some of our family’s Christmas traditions.

1. We have two cloth Advent calendars – one with a Nativity scene and the other a Christmas tree with candy.  Each day, the kids take a stuffed item (with Velcro on the back) from the numbered pockets and put it onto the scene.

2. Last year, the kids and I made two gingerbread houses and we have decided to make it a tradition because we had so much fun!!  This year, we are planning to do three houses – one for each of us!

3. Santa Claus gives each child one gift as well as filling everyone’s stockings with candy.  The kids won’t take pictures with the big red guy anymore, though!

4. We wrap our presents well before Christmas, but we don’t put them under the tree until Christmas Eve.

5. We eat lots (dare I say too many?) of mint M&Ms this time of year!!  It’s the only time of year that they are sold and I love them!!

6. We open one gift on Christmas Eve right after we read the Christmas story from Matthew or Luke.

7. The kids make a paper chain to put across the stairs Christmas Eve.  No one can go down the stairs until we all go together!

So, what fun Christmas traditions does your family have?  Check out other 7 Quick Takes Friday posts!!

7 Quick Takes Friday – December 4, 2009

 

1. It’s time for the Christmas wars, and the “Christians” are taking the offensive this year.  At Stand for Christmas, you can see if your favorite retailers are using religiously correct language and appropriate symbols for this time of year as they entice you to engage in more gross consumerism.  After all, this is the time of year when we show God’s love by racking up large amounts of debt while giving each other gifts of stuff we don’t need.  And the job of the retailer is to make us feel as holy as possible while we do this.  Because that’s what Christmas is all about, right?  (Jason Boyett has a nice little rant against Stand for Christmas that I like.)

2. Here’s a great post you should read about fear.  As perfect love casts out fear, so imperfect love casts in fear.  So much of the culture war is just fear.  We are afraid that God will be taken out of the public square, that liberals will run the country, and that the cashier won’t say Merry Christmas.  But, God’s perfect love will take away our fear – even the fear of the cultural changes.

3. Apparently, it snowed in Houston today.  I know this because I have several Facebook friends who live in the Houston area (not surprising since I went to college at LSU).  It also snowed some here today.  The people in Houston were ecstatic and thrilled.  The people here were mildly interested and talking about getting the snowblowers/snowmobiles/skis ready for the season.  It’s like two different worlds!

4. Mr. Math Tutor and Wild Man were reading in Luke about the resurrection of Jesus. Mr. Math Tutor had Wild Man tell me that the fact that the burial linen was in the tomb and folded was part of the evidence that Jesus' body wasn't stolen. I told them it was evidence that God wants us to fold our clothes.  They weren’t really amused.

5. So, while I’m trying to simplify Christmas and doing the whole Advent Conspiracy thing, my daughter is getting crazy busy because she’s in the school choir and the church choir.  I was incredibly proud that she made it into the Madrigal’s singing group, but that means that she has three or four Madrigals performances in addition to her Treble Choir performance and church choir performance (where she’ll also be playing accompaniment for one piece).  I’ve tried to make sure she doesn’t have any other external commitments, though, because I want our family to be able to enjoy our time together.

6. I’ve noticed something rather disturbing since my parents left last week.  My kitchen appears to no longer be self-cleaning and our food supply appears to be dwindling.  While my parents were here, the food and kitchen stuff kind of took care of itself as if by magic.  I’m going to have to cook and clean again, I’m afraid.

7. I had my thyroid scan done this week, and all is normal!!  And, I am now back on thyroid hormone and must be having a great placebo effect because I feel great even though I know that there can only be a small amount of hormone in my system yet.  Nonetheless, I’m a happy woman.  I’m also trying desiccated thyroid instead of levothyroxine to see if that helps my migraines any.  It’s a long-shot, but we’ll see what happens!

Check out Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes Friday entries!!