Fun times...and not so fun times

Well, I finally got the children's fall clothes out today. It's amazing I was able to postpone it until the end of October, but as the days are finally getting cooler, I convinced Steve it was time. Since this is the first time we've had clothes stored in an attic, this is the first time I needed his help. (I just can't get the boxes down and up by myself. I'm a wimp, remember?) I don't think he ever realized before just how involved a task it is (and why I gripe about it so much). Even with him helping part of the time, the job took about five hours! I paid dearly for the haphazard way I had stored the clothes the last season change. This time, I was very careful to organize everything by size and season, and I labelled each box. I hope that will make things easier in the spring.

Today was not completely labor-intensive. I had a very pleasant time this morning taking Joanna and Elinor to a special fall reading time at our local reading center. Jessica has been going to a book club (for 2nd and 3rd graders) at the center this fall, so Joanna was thrilled they were having something for kindergarteners today. I felt a little bad for the nice lady who runs the center, because we were the only people who came. Still, Joanna and Elinor had a great time. It also helped me to have somewhere to take them, since Steve and Jessica went to help tend the lawn at the National Memorial for the Unborn. (Our church got together a group to do this, and we could have all gone. I didn't think I'd be much help, though, with keeping an eye on Elinor.) Joanna did get to have some alone time with Daddy, when he went to Wal-Mart to get our oil changed.

One nice thing is that I feel like we have FINALLY had a productive Saturday. Yay!

Things Considered

I just stayed up much too late watching For Your Consideration, the latest offering from comic genius Christopher Guest and his pals. I was disappointed. Although it made me laugh a few times, it was missing something- or maybe a lot of somethings. Maybe the material was not as original a playing field. The cast did not seem as invested in their roles as they were in Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, or my personal favorite A Mighty Wind. I did doze a bit in the middle, so I may have missed something great there, but all in all, I found more entertainment value in the old black and white zombie movie that was playing in the restaurant where we ate dinner tonight. (The stock footage and wooden loping across the screen could have been straight out of Ed Wood.)

Not Ready for the Landfill Just Yet

Occasionally, a kids' meal toy can have great play value. A couple of months ago, I got the girls lunch at Chik-fil-a, and they received glider kits for their prizes. None of us were overly excited about the kits, and I stuffed them in the car, figuring they'd probably get thrown away. Of course, I forgot about them, and Steve came across them Sunday. (He tried to give them away to other parents at church, but there was only one taker.) Today, I decided to open up a kit to see if it was worth anything, and it basically contained three paper airplanes and a cardstock model of the space shuttle Columbia. I realize that the monetary value of the toy is negligible, but those airplanes can really glide! The girls and I probably played with them for about an hour after lunch. Even Elinor was entertained, tolerating her high chair for much longer than usual.

I guess it just goes to show you that something that looks worthless can have potential. I wish the same could be said for the toys the girls got at Sonic a couple of weeks ago. What is a reasonable amount of time for a parent to let her child keep a green plastic bone keychain before sending it the way of most fast-food prizes?

Missing My Spouse

I confess to being a wimp. Feminists would hate me. I'm not a strong, independent female who can get along fine without my man. Steve is gone on a business trip, and the house feels so empty without him. I should be going to bed about now, but I know I'll have a hard time getting to sleep. To make matters worse, our neighborhood e-mail list has recently been filled with incidents involving some unsavory characters. Fortunately, there have not been any home-invasion attempts, and the suspicious individuals have been hanging around several blocks away. It still makes one uneasy, though.

Anyway, I'll be glad when he gets home tomorrow night, and I'm glad he'll only be gone one night. (Yes, only one night....I said I was a wimp!)

Back to Blogging?

Well, it has been months since I last posted anything. I think I felt that I needed to blog about "something," but that requires more time and effort than I seem to have. I also don't think I really have the talent for that kind of writing - not "off the cuff" anyway, and who has the time to write rough drafts and edit their on-line musings?

Anyway, this is my new and different attempt at blogging. I still may not have much to say (hence the new title), but now I don't feel the pressure to say anything much.

Go to the Ant?

EDIT:I should have begun this by saying that I don't want to offend anyone who likes Judy Rogers, and I do see that her songs can be useful for instruction. I've just been subjected to a lot of her music lately, and I was trying to analyze in my own mind why I didn't care for it that much.

During my church's Vacation Bible School, our pastor wanted to teach the children two Judy Rogers songs. In case you are unfamiliar with Mrs. Rogers, she has set to music a lot of the Children's Catachism questions and other scripture-related songs for children. She has a very folksly sort of style, and my girls do really seem to enjoy the Judy Rogers album we own.

My problem with her is kind of hard to describe. Her lyrics are fine theologically, though she sometimes chooses words/prhases I personally find awkward. It's a little thing, but in "I'm Hiding from Mommy," she could easily have chosen to rhyme "no one will know" with "wherever I go." Instead, she sings, "no one will know" and "whatever I do." This does not seem to be because of an aesthetic preference for non-rhyming poetry, though, because that same song has other, similar phrases that do rhyme. I suppose I prefer a bit of symmetry and an easy-to-follow rhyming pattern, and I think children also find that easier to follow.

The second problem I have is with the dips and dives Mrs. Rogers takes in her melody lines. This one definitely seemed to be throwing the kids (and many of the adults) at VBS. Her melodies will be following a fairly simple, though not overly predictable, route, when suddenly she drops several notes below where you expected her to go, and in "Why Can't I See God?" she doesn't bring the chorus to a resolution the first time. Again, I suppose that would be okay, except this is supposed to be for children to sing, and I don't see why it's necessary to make it harder to learn. She also makes some strange rhythm changes in later verses, which seems slightly arbitrary and unnecessary, and again, these changes are inconsistent. The pattern will change in one phrase, but in a parallel spot, it stays the same as the first verse.

Lastly, Judy Rogers just seems to take herself so seriously. On the one hand, this is a good quality. She seems very sincere when she's singing. She also comes across a bit like Phoebe from "Friends," when she speaks a line instead of singing it, to give it a bit more emphasis. I can almost picture Mrs. Rogers, guitar in hand, eyes closed, singing her heart out to a less than inspired audience.

Of course, as I said, my children do like her songs, and they do teach something worthwhile. I don't really know why I'm criticizing this music in particular, except most of the reformed people I know have said so many wonderful things about Judy Rogers, without really analyzing it from an artistic perspective. I agree that these albums have their usefulness, but I wish someone would do it with more musicality and less influence from popular music, which can make songs sound dated pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I don't personally feel called to that particular line of work, so I guess we'll stick to the old-fashioned way of learning catachism for now.

Harry Potter Fever

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a big Harry Potter fan. Like many other people, I am eagerly anticipating the month of July, when the 5th movie will be released and, more importantly, the 7th and final book will finally be published. In preparation for these events, I have been rereading the first six books and am currently working on The Order of the Phoenix (#5 for those who are less familiar with HP). My husband thinks I am crazy for trying to read them again, but I find it very interesting. JK Rowling leaves many clues along the way that I missed the first time around. Even though I've read each book more than once, I always pick up more details with each perusal.

Naturally, along with the knowledge of what is waiting for Harry and his friends comes the desire for them to do some things differently. I find myself wanting to yell to the book, "No, Harry! Stop! It's a trap!" I can see the other side of the coin, though. I understand that some unfortunate and even tragic things have to happen in order for other, necessary events to transpire.

That is true, of course, in our real lives as well. The Christian walk is full of trials because of the fall. When I'm going through a difficult time, I often find myself saying, "If only I had done this or that differently." It can be so hard to see goodness in times of trouble, but later I see what God has brought out of the ordeal. Even while we endure tribulation, we have the promise that God is always present to help us. Poor Harry just has to slog through on his own.

Summer Musings

I am not surprised that the majority of people do not undertake their children's educations themselves. While I firmly believe that homeschooling is the right choice for us (at least for my oldest daughter), the pressures of that choice have really been weighing on me of late. Jessica is startlingly bright, but she is also shockingly lazy. I really feel the need of some external force to motivate her, to drive her, to make her realize that she's not the only child in the world who does lessons.

It is unfortunate, of course, that we are still finishing her math book, but lately, she has become very melodramatic about it. I'm only requiring her to do one lesson a day, which takes less than 30 minutes, but I found her writing in a letter that the summer was going to be "awful" because of having to do school. She told me that summertime was "for going new and exciting places, like Europe." Maybe I shouldn't let her read so much....

I am trying to do lots of fun things with them, though. I bought one of those little wading pools at Wal-Mart, and all of the girls had a wonderful time "swimming" this afternoon. We've also been having friends over to play about once a week. Next month will be filled with houseguests and trips to a violin workshop and to my in-laws' house. I do hope that my girls have an enjoyable time this summer. I also hope I better prepare myself for the coming schoolyear, so we can have more of a break next summer.

Kids and Advertising

I'm pretty cautious when it comes to letting my children watch television. Few of the available kids' programs promote the kind of values that my husband and I are trying to teach our girls, and even seemingly innocent shows have had a negative influence on them. (Our oldest daughter started saying, "That's not fair," all the time after watching an episode of Dragon Tales.)

Most of the time, this isn't an issue because we don't have cable, so when the children want to watch something, we put in a video or dvd. I have started letting them watch some Saturday morning shows on NBC, though. I have such fond memories of watching cartoons with my little sister, and they actually have some decent programming like Veggie Tales and 3-2-1 Penguins. It also gives them an incentive to get their violin practicing done before their shows start, which has been helpful.

The one thing I forgot to take into account, however, was the commercials. For weeks now, I've been hearing about the amazing Bedazzler and a Betty Crocker bake set. This morning, my six-year-old actually ran to get a piece of paper and a marker to write down the phone number to order the bake set! I reminded her that it would cost money, and she said that it cost 10-something (unsure if it was $10 or $.10). My kids have also bought into the idea that they can buy great things by saving their Dum-Dum wrappers. Every time my four-year-old finds a penny she tells me she can buy a Dum-Dum yo-yo now.

I understand the point of advertising, and I think it can provide a service to both consumers and retailers. Still, I've always thought ads directed at kids were kind of mean. Children have no concept of value or expense, and at least in the case of my girls, they have no income. They seem more surprised than dismayed when we tell them we're not going to buy these things. The commercials make the products look so great. Why would we not want them?!

I don't know exactly where I'm going with this. Hopefully, I'll be able to teach my daughters that the products they see on tv aren't always as great as they seem, and I want to teach them to save their money and spend it wisely. This could be a good opportunity to have those kinds of discussions, and if it becomes a real problem, we can always go back to not watching commercial television. I do wonder, though, what our consumer-hungry culture is doing to the children who absorb this kind of thing every day.

Going into debt has become very easy to do now, and there seems to be no social stigma attached to it anymore. We recently saw a report about a woman who went online to beg strangers to help her pay her credit card bills. She was not a tragic figure. She was young and healthy, but she really liked to shop and got in over her head. I wonder when her desire to spend money began. Are we raising the next generation to throw its money away? Maybe the schools should start teaching children how to handle phone calls from creditors.

Another Clown who Makes me Laugh

I remembered last night that I have one more suggestion for Oscar host (because I'm sure someone influential is reading this and actually cares about my opinion - perhaps this is where being related to Dame Judy would come in handy). I stayed up too late last night and found myself watching Jimmy Kimmel Live. Say what you will about him, he is a funny man. I would love to see him replace David Letterman or Jay Leno as the new face of late night television. Anyway, I can imagine him as a very amusing, laidback host who wouldn't be too ingratiating to the "stars."

And the nomination goes to....

Jerry Seinfeld gets my vote to be next year's Oscar host. His presentation Sunday night was the most entertaining two minutes of the whole broadcast. Ellen Degeneres was fine, but I only found her to be mildly amusing. All of her bits seemed sooo scripted. Another idea could be to have a team of hosts. I would enlist Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and maybe Ben Stiller for the job. Of course, that might make it too much like SNL goes to the Oscars.

In general, I thought this year's Oscars were very boring. That might have something to do with the fact that I had hardly seen any of the nominated pictures. Still, there were very few surprises. The articles I had read beforehand accurately predicted the winners, and few of the winners seemed surprised. At least last year there was the rap group that won for best song. I wasn't a big fan of the song or anything, but those guys were genuinely excited.

Then, there was the whole love affair with Al Gore thing. What does it mean for the Oscars to "go green" anyway? Did the stars walk from their mansions? Did they rent fewer limousines and carpool? I seriously doubt they biked to the event in their tuxes and formals. Movie stars and politicians are really good at spouting slogans that mean absolutely nothing.

Oh, and I never will understand why they don't let the Oscar winners give decent speeches, but they have time for a million montages and weird dance numbers.


So, will I watch the Oscars next year? Probably. I have a hard time breaking with tradition, and for some reason, I enjoy filling my head with trivial award show information. I just hope the Academy takes my advice and hires a really entertaining host. Maybe then I'll stay awake to the end.

Finding One's Voice

As I suspected, I don't have much to say. I literally don't have much to say, since I'm suffering from laryngitis. That makes getting the girls' attention somewhat of a challenge. I hope I'll be able to speak again soon. On the bright side, there's no one to talk to at the moment, and I doubt Phan will be home anytime soon.

First Post

Well, I have my own blog now. I've resisted for a couple of years now, but this seemed to be the only way I could comment on my brother's blog. I doubt I'll use it much, but who knows? This could be fun.