one small comment

I'm intentionally avoiding a lot of political thoughts, comments, and news, but I am going to make one small statement here about the upcoming election day. Whatever happened to JFK's statement about 'ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for your country' (not a perfect quote there, I know) ? I'm not really a fan of JFK's legacy but you know, he had a good point there. I wish that idea would come up once in awhile, cuz I'm really sick of hearing about 'this candidate will or will not make MY life better'. I mean, wtf? Is that the point of the government, to make my life better? To a certain degree I guess it is- anarchy (though appealing) does make everyone's life slightly more challenging.  But the more we demand that the government be responsible for our comfort, the more we have to accept mediocrity and tyranny. Big Brother is born- not through the whims of a dictator, but from the necessity of protecting the easy life.

my book

So, I'm writing a children's story about gigantic gourds that take over the neighborhood. It has a whimsical and melancholy edge to it.  I am now beginning the arduous task of trying to get it published (eek). My good friend Laura is going to help me lay it out and I am probably going to ask someone I know to be my agent and I will also send it to publishers who don't require agents (depressingly few in number). 

It's been fun and educational, and even if I never get it published I still think it is a good story :) And yes, I have no principles. I am willing to change it, slash it, burn it, and sell my soul (not to mention my children) if that's what a publisher demands!

extra caffeine, anyone?

Well, the unthinkable has happened. I've cut back on my coffee.  For the last week, I've only been drinking one cup in the morning and one in the early afternoon (my previous quota was exactly twice that amount). 

The reason for this traitorous behavior is that I have a thyroid condition, suspected for a long time and finally confirmed. The modern American medical treatment for this condition is daily hormone replacement for the rest of my life. I'm really not into that. I think it is a bad idea in general that our medical practice basically consists of giving people a pill for every symptom. I prefer trying to fix the actual problem. 

Therefore, I'm cutting back on my caffeine, increasing the amount of water I drink, trying to eat more vegetables and trying to exercise every day. The purpose of all that is to help my body better process nutrients and thereby help my thyroid function better. I don't know if it's actually working yet, but I have to admit that I feel healthier overall and seem to be losing a little bit of weight. 

Is it worth sacrificing some of my daily caffeine dosage? Not really. 

The ups and downs of homeschooling

Sometimes I wonder why I get stressed out.  My kids are pretty good. I have breaks during my day and time to goof off (like now :). I should be able to handle everything pretty easily...but the reality is, child-rearing is a major endeavor.

For instance, this afternoon, right before spelling, India jumped off a toy outside and hurt her arms. She, of course, started wailing like she was being burned at the stake. We needed to work on spelling- Stuart and Anastasia's worst subject- so I held her while giving them their spelling words. So... India's screaming, Anastasia is more interesting in being 'Mom' than her spelling, Stuart is irritated because of the illogical nature of English spelling, and Malachi, who is supposed to be helping me take care of India, is having Malachi moments (what's tylenol?! he asks blankly) AARGH! 

This is why I need coffee breaks and good books (or manga, whatever is available).

On the other hand...now I can sit here and type during our science time, because Stuart loves science and has taken it upon himself to teach our curriculum for now. We also had fun learning about prime numbers today and looked up the largest known prime number (I know, we're geeks.) 

It's a great life.

My sense of taste (and other happenings here)

We are suffering from a serious cold. Going on a week of misery here. I rearranged our school schedule so we can have our autumn vacation now- giving us time to recuperate without missing tons of school. 

With this cold, I have lost my sense of taste. The last time I tasted food was Friday afternoon (and today is Thursday, of the following week).  It is a surreal experience, this lack of taste (that could be symbolic of my whole life I guess ;).  There is a growing craving inside me for good food.  A feeling that something in my life is seriously wrong. I have to prevent myself from just eating, eating, trying to satisfy the need for taste. You would think it would be the opposite...that I would lose my appetite. That happened for a couple days. But now, it is almost like my need for sunlight. I know it's there, somewhere in the world...if I could only find it...

Other ramblings...during our time off, Anastasia and I are working on a doll quilt, boys are working on a pine car, and we've played a lot of games and watched some Hogan's Heroes. With the beautiful weather, we should really be outside more, so maybe we'll take our rolls of t.p. and our mugs of hot liquids and move outside this afternoon!

Yet another rant...

Seems like I currently use this blog as a way to get my feelings off my chest..oh well..

So last week was banned book week (hurray for banned books!) but as always, the people who fight against censorship forget a few important things.

1. 'Censorship' is when the government doesn't allow something to be published, spoken, read, etc. It is NOT when a private company or organization chooses not to publish something (sell something, advertise something, etc.) because they don't like the content. Several of the times people scream 'censorship' when a private individual/corporation is exercising their own freedom to print or not print something they find distasteful or disagreeable.  

2. The Bible is the number one banned book of all time, anywhere in the world.  Most of the time, banned book lists fail to include this holy book. I have to wonder why? Are these people, so intent on protecting freedom, censoring a censored book? What could be their motivation? Hmmmm....

3. Restriction is different than censorship. In other words, it is NOT censorship to rate a movie 'X'. Ratings are, first of all, not something the government does, and second of all, doesn't prevent ANYONE from seeing the movie. Children can see porn if their parents get it for them (though that might make the parents end up in court). Most people would agree that small children should be restricted from seeing certain material in most circumstances.  Do I want my 11 yr. old reading Lady Chatterly's Lover? No. Do I want Lady Chatterly's Lover banned? No. Do I want to decide when my child is ready for that kind of writing? Yes. That's not censorship, that's parenting, and if the anti-censorship crowd (of which I would consider myself a member) has a problem with that, than I would suggest that they find themselves a good dictionary and look up a few words like wisdom and maturity, unless those words are banned now too...