A Decade in Review

10 years ago today I was great with child. Seriously. The child who defied his due date and came on January 3, 2000, weighed in at 10 pounds, 2 ounces and was 24 inches long at birth. The birth (sunny side up) was agonizing but he was the happiest and mellowest little fella on planet earth till he turned 3 and concluded that it rocked to thunder and he hasn't been quiet since! The decade past has been Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...kinda like the decade before that...maybe this one will be calmer? Doubt that. I'm married to Adventure Man, a.k.a. Adrenaline Junkie and his little brood of Adrenaline Junkie off-spring. Not sure how I got mixed up with this crowd but I'm in too deep to back out now. While I have a bunch of hopes and dreams for the next decade I thought it'd be interesting to review what I've done the last....you know, a person who doesn't know history is damned to repeat it and all of that...so here goes...

• I have lived in 4 different homes
• Moved from the Southwest to the North Midwest
• Birthed 2 more children in addition to the 3 we had
• Nursed for 26 additional months
• Painted an entire house from ceiling to floorboards including but not limited to inside cupboards, doors, trim, and kitchen cabinets. Meanwhile, Viking Man built a 154' backyard fence and did a kitchen make-over, adding cabinets and counter-top. We made a tidy little profit on that house, which we owned for just 18 months.
• Bought and sold our first house.
• Bought a house and an acreage in one of the least populated states in the Nation, after having lived in one of the most
• Bought and sold and buried sheep, goats, cats, fowl, and a horse
• Landscaped, Gardened, Canned, Homesteaded
• Cooked (so much it seems that it deserves it's own line on the page)
• Wrote articles on homeschooling and parenting
• Spoke to women and families about women and families, marriage, parenting and education.
• Completed a second master's degree, this time in Marriage & Family Therapy
• Homeschooled 10 more years (in addition to the 9 I'd already done)
• Graduated 2 homeschool students - collectively that's 24 years of homeschooling I've done!
• Saw my dad remarry (after my mom's death) to a lovely lady- another psychologist in the fam! Congratulations Dad and Corrine!
• Survived my oldest dd's international travel
• Started 3 successful homeschool programs in our local area
• Brought TeenPact to our state
• Survived my dh's job being pulled out from under him and 2 years of re-grouping/ severe underemployment
• Left a church (for reasons other than a move)
• Stood by my KB's hospital bed as she awaited neurosurgery from a severe car accident. Despite having her brain exposed and a 1x3" piece of skull removed, she is fine.
• Said "Good-bye" to 2 friends who bravely fought cancer
• Rejoiced with 2 friends who are bravely fighting cancer
• Stood in amazement as God provided a full ride, 4-year scholarship for our oldest dd to a college that is a perfect fit in so many ways.
• Celebrated with family at my in-laws 50th Wedding Anniversary! Congratulations Bob and Donna!
• Attended my 48 yo sister's funeral. It hurts to say "farewell" to those we love
• Watched my house burn. It hurts to say "farewell" to what we love
• Watched my oldest daughter fall in love with a man
• Fallen all the more in love with my dh who is a rare combination of Visionary & Do-er. He is brilliant, witty, athletic, passionate, committed and creative. We'll celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this June, God willing. How does time stand still and move faster than the speed of sound at the same time?
• Been amazed at God's continued LOVE, Grace & provision for me and for the World.

WW: Christmas at Our House was a Jolly Good Time

Flower's "best" present. "Elizabeth from" AG. Love at first sight.

KB wanted a guitar and we found a black Fender. Isn't it kewl? Perfect fit as black was always her fav color (even at age 3- believe me, her response to the fav color question at that age elicited concerned responses!)
Da' boys examining the uber Lego set Cub got. Feche-boy had a great time helping put it together proving that you're never to old for Lego's!

Fresh faced and newly turned 23. Miss. R practicing her foot-popping. R's Beau couldn't make it for a visit due to work but sent thoughtful and funny letters to everyone.

Peas in a Pod.

Homeschool Year in Review

A forum buddy over at TWTM has started a thread on best successes of the year. Thought it was a good idea to just do a basic review, especially as I need to see what we have, sort what we've been given and re-group in order to start spring semester next week.

The big win this fall was the discovery and utilization of Writing With Ease. Another excellent product from our friends over at Peace Hill Press http://www.welltrainedmind.com/store/. We've used WWE I for Flower and her class at TDA and WWE 2 & 4 for Cub. It includes excellent literature, copywork, dictation, narration, grammar. What more could you want from a lower level eled writing program?

We have also loved the Classical Studies history program from Memoria Press along with the lit/history guides for high school: The Trojan War, Odyssey, Iliad, The Hobbit, along with the classic Famous Men series http://www.memoriapress.com/. Work on cursive continues with New American Cursive. Simple and effective.

We stuck with Horizons Math for the 1rst and 4th grade. I'm looking for something else for 4th grade. The second semester's book is gone (via fire and smoke) and I'd like to find something that gives Cub a better sense of what he knows and end each math session with him feeling like a winner instead of frustrated. Feche Boy is still working through Saxon's Algebra I.

Science has been a wash. Feche Boy will start Bio I this spring, hopefully doing labs with a friend using Apologia, which I need to re-purchase. I've discovered more John Howard Tiner books so Cub and Flower will be reading more of those this next semester.

Modified, since the fire, TDA, for Art and Drama and the boys especially are being challenged by their art homework. Of course, we might just have the best art instructor in our corner of the world. Music puttered out but I plan to revive it in a week with a composer study and basic theory. I figure the years I spent singing in choirs and playing in bands (flute, piccolo, sax) should hold me in good enough stead for a basic music class.

Tantara, the Festival of One Act Plays, is at the end of January and we have begun practice. We have, once again, an award winning script, a great directress, and a cast that is fun and funny.

Latin has been hard to hold on to this semester. Partly cause memory work has taken a big backseat and partly cause the CD's are, I hope, in the pod, but not with us. Feche Boy is taking Latin through Classical Liberal Arts Academy starting next week: http://www.classicalliberalarts.com/ They have lots of offerings I'd love to delve into, but will have to wait.

Viking Man taught an Apologetics course based on the writings of C.S. Lewis for TDA's high school students; for 8 weeks at least. I'd love to be able to package and market both what he and Kristen Hickey, history, http://midnightcry.wordpress.com/, taught. Both gifted teachers with a passion for people and the Word.

Memory Work has been on hold, too, though we've been listening to Classical Conversations Cycle 1 CD www.classicalconversations.com/ and have re-ordered Drew Cambell's Living Memory www.lulu.com/content/5348956 . We'll be back at it as soon as I get a new white board and markers.

TDA, as stated before, is still in modified form and we have some decisions to make for this spring and next fall. Still in gathering data mode (the story of my life right now). I'd also love to figure out how to incorporate insurance forms into some type of school/educational project but the creative juices just haven't flown in that direction so guess I'm on my own.

We haven't gotten as far as I'd hoped but we made it through the semester actually having completed coursework, despite illness, fire death and blizzard. As I've said before, http://goldengrasses.blogspot.com/2009/12/wr-lowering-bar.html I'm calling that a win.

Homeschooling, the State of the Union & More... CBD interview with Richard Maybury

Richard Maybury, also known as "Uncle Eric" was recently interviewed by Christian Book Distributors. You might not agree with his economics or isolationist stance on government but he is always thought provoking and worthy of discussion. He has lots more to say than what I've cut and pasted here, including thoughts on the U.S./ Middle Eastern conflict. You can read the entire interview here:

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/cms_content?page=2012492&sp=102656&event=1016INT

Hope you find the following as interesting as I did:

CBD: Many of your predictions about the current conflict have come true. Do you have any new or updated predictions on what will happen in the next ten years?

RICHARD MAYBURY: The next ten years. Tough question. I’ll give it a try, but please keep in mind that this is all guesswork.
That said, one of the very few things about which I am absolutely certain is, when people play God, they always do it badly.Most of the population was raised in government-controlled schools, and they see the government as God-like, the solution to all their problems.Over the next ten years I think the war and its cost will expand, and the economy will worsen. Lots more inflation, business failures, unemployment and poverty.The U.S. government’s size, power and taxes will grow, as the population demands that their political God do something, anything, to save them. But it’s a false God, so it will not only fail, it will continue making things worse. As Ronald Reagan said, government isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.I think there is a 90% probability the great crisis will be upon us within ten years. One reason is that the whole generation of baby boomers was lied to about economics. And now, the World War II generation is retired, and everything is being run by the boomers. You don’t need to know any more than that to see why the economy is a mess, and why there are very few people in the government who have the foggiest idea how to fix it. They were all taught either Keynesianism or socialism, and for most, real economics will have little chance of penetrating their educations.In ten years, I think America will be an unrecognizable mess. In twenty, it will be either a Camelot that has returned to the Constitution, or it will be totally fascist.The outcome depends on what we do now. That’s why I wrote the Uncle Eric books, and it’s why I believe talking with the clergy is the indispensable key to the whole contest. It’s either God’s law or the government’s law; it can’t be both, because they currently contradict each other. We must return to a legal and political system based on the two laws.

CBD: Do you have any new advice for the up-and-coming generation of homeschoolers?

RICHARD MAYBURY: Yes. If you are not homeschooling your children, do it now, don’t delay, because there is no telling how long it will remain legal. When governments get themselves into the kind of geopolitical and economic trouble Washington has stirred up for itself, the politicians and bureaucrats don’t want people thinking for themselves. They want “unity,” meaning, we all think the same way — the way they tell us to.Homeschooling is diametrically opposed to groupthink, so I believe it will come under increasing pressure in many states. Do it now, while you still can.Incidentally, on the subject of homeschooling, I’m the voice of experience. Whenever possible, I hire people who were homeschooled, and I can tell you for a fact that most are self-starters who are smarter, harder working, more clever, mature and honest, and have vastly better social skills. With rare exceptions, the leaders of tomorrow will not be the conventionally public schooled, they will be the homeschooled.After all, it stands to reason. A child who is raised by someone who knows and loves her or him, is likely to be better off than one who is raised by strangers.
There’s also this. A deep, dark secret that no conventional public school wants us to understand is that the children aren’t really raised by the teachers, they are raised by the peer group.
A conventional public school is a peer pressure cooker. The teacher is spread far too thin to have much influence, but the peer group has the time and the manpower to spend hours per day, intensely focused on the individual child, to convert the child to whatever beliefs and behaviors are fashionable. It’s emotional mob rule, all day, every day. And, the peer group knows the child much better than the teacher ever will. It knows every chink in the child’s emotional armor.
Lots of couples say they’ll take too big a cut in their income if one of them stays home to educate the children. I’ve seen more than one of these cases in which they ended up spending all that extra money on psychiatrists and lawyers.
To each parent, I say, no one loves your child as much as you do. Homeschool as much as you can while it’s still legal, because the child who is well-raised by the people who love him or her has a much better chance at happiness and success.For God’s sake — and I mean that expression literally — a child is supposed to be raised by people who love the child! What could be more obvious?

Joy to the World!

There is a blizzard raging on the high plains and Viking Man & Feche Boy have gone out to help someone stranded on the road. Inside it is warm and cozy, full of good food and hot drinks and the anticipation of stockings and presents.
The Candlelight Christmas Eve service was cancelled at church last night, due to weather, but we used the script the notsolittles had for their parts in the readings and had our own. We've watched The Nativity and, not only is it a sweet love story between Joesph and Mary but it depicts well the ultimate love story between each one of us and the lover of our souls. Christ, in His infinite mercy and love, made Himself low, to tabernacle among us as a man.
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Joy to the World, the Lord has come!

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Merry Christmas!!

Happy Birthday, Dear Daughter!!

Today is our oldest daughter's birthday! She is our guinnea pig baby, no matter how old; our adventurer, story-teller, laugh-factory. She can travel the world and find friends, loves the young and the old, is creative, funny, intelligent, passionate and faithful.

Not to sound too proud, she is also stubborn, strong-willed, and hard-headed. I attribute this to her father's gene-pool = ).

She's done adventuresome, crazy, life-changing and thrilling things in her short life. She plans on doing more.

She is grounded and deep and intellectual and a bubble-brain all at once. It always flabbergasts me how she can't get from one end of town to the other without going the long way around, but she can go from continent to continent all by herself and get there alive (praise God!).

She is a great writer, a great cook, a great friend, a great thinker, a great woman of God.

We LOVE YOU Miss.R!!

Looking forward with anticipation (and honestly, a little fear and trembling) to all God has for you!

You can read more about her adventures at her blog: http://blindlyservinghim.blogspot.com/

Heart Hurts

So often in the past couple of weeks I've had people comment in response to the house, "At least you all got out alive" and in response to the death of my sister, "At least she died peacefully." I am grateful for these things. Totally grateful. But honestly, in side, I am on spin cycle. My life is topsy turvey, upside down and backwards. The fire has been the most disruptive on-going event in my entire life. I can't even fathom the possibility of having someone die in the fire so I'm not going there emotionally. All I know is I feel overwhelmed, uncreative, at the end of my emotional resources, short tempered, and restless.
And I can't even tell you how grateful I am that my sister died peacefully, but darn that, she was 48 for pete's sake. I am caught off guard, frequently, by profound grief. I want to bend over and wail and mourn and lament. It's not that we were so "close." It's that we had a relationship that was for life and now her life here is gone. I could count on Sue. I could count on her to be available, to be generous, to be accepting, to understand goofy, stupid references and laugh out loud and long with me, to share my history, to love my kids, to befriend my husband. And I could also count on her to be bossy, opinionated, strong-willed and down-right b*tchy. It didn't matter. When push came to shove, she was my big sis and that was that. We'd been through enough of each others crap in life to see the dross in living, muddy color and to be dazzled by the gold. I don't want her to be gone. I don't want to have this profound sense of loss and hurt in my heart. I don't want things to be tospy-turvy and me to be short tempered and irritated. And I don't want to be so petty that I am grieving over things that were thrown away. I want to be bigger than that. To be full of grace in difficult circumstances, to be full of gratitude that no one died in the fire and that Sue died peacefully. I am grateful, but the gratitude feels crowded out by this feeling of intense sorrow.
We are certainly a grief denying culture, but I can't deny the grief I have. I know, truly, that "things" will work out. That we'll look back on this year and rejoice in all of the many ways God scooped us up and carried us. But for now, the loss just hurts.

Overwhelmed by Grace

A knock on the door. At 6:30? It's pitch black out, sleeting, we don't know anyone in the neighborhood and few people know our new address. A man in a Santa hat with a huge smile informs us that he has some Christmas items for us and wonders if he can bring them in. We nod in a kind of dumbfounded manner as I query, "Who are you?" He shrugs and smiles. Within minutes a flock of Santa hatted, smiling, singing people are walking in, wiping their feet and walking to the kitchen, loaded with boxes and bags of food. Turkey and ham and soup and fruit and candy and household products and lots more. They sing a carole, turn around and start filing out. Each one looks me in the eyes, wishes me a "Merry Christmas", touches my arm, smiles.
We stand at the window and wave and 4 car-loads of friends that we don't know wave back.
Overwhelmed, once again, by GRACE.

In the boxes a small pink note that says "Merry Christmas from the S.F. Ghosts of Christmas."
We are blessed. Beyond measure.

Vision Revision.

In college I was the student coordinator of the Annual Festival of Faith and Art called Vision Revision. The year I coordinated Calvin Miller was the guest speaker and a darn good one at that. Ever since I've been committed to the proverb, "without a vision the people will perish," and conversely one of my own, "with a vision, the people will thrive." Which is why I particularly like "success" stories such as the one related to the flick we watched this past week-end, "Pendragon."

Created by Burns family productions it's written, scored, directed, and starred in by a group of people with a clear vision. There were moments of cheesy acting, slow dialog and questions on the authenticity of the costumes or weaponry, but overall our fam gave it a big thumbs up. 1/2 way through viewing one of the kids asked if the Burns family were homeschoolers and sure enough they are. Burns Family Productions consists of a group of homeschooling families having a blast with history and media and winning awards left and right with their little foray in to the world of cinema . You can find out more about it here: http://burnsfamilystudios.com/movies/pendragon/news/

I've been described as driven in the past as well as just recently and it's not an assessment that I agree with. During one conversation another friend stepped in, put her arm around me and said, "She's not driven, she has vision." I'll take that as a compliment. I love "success" stories like the Burns family, the Kendrick Brothers (Sherwood Films) and others because it gives me hope of fulfillment, which I believe is the meaning of Hope in the Hebrew. It's about completion.

I've felt knocked off balance of late, for good reason you might agree. Being burned out of our home, a dd's E.R. visit complete with CAT scan, the death of my sister, Viking Man with pneumonia, having a abscessed cyst removed all within a matter of days was disorienting to say the least. I've been floundering with what the vision has been, distracted by others ideas and demands, disoriented by grief, consumed with the house and re-locating. We've been on survival mode, but I keep having glimpses of what the vision is. It's calling to me, but I'm not sure how to articulate what I see could be. I feel unsure about how to proceed. And I've wondered at times if that has been the whole point of this on-going, relentless foray into disorder and chaos. Distraction. My prayer of late has been that God gives me a clear vision, that He refines my hope. That He gives me the tools and understanding and courage to really go for what He's called me to do. I keep having glimpses, and I know what the end could be, I'm just not sure of how to get there.

Clarity of vision. Hope fulfilled. The Vision Refined and Revised.

Prayers appreciated.

WR: Lowering the Bar

Just thought I'd give it a shot. Bear in mind that this week we lowered the bar.

Monday- spent time with a friend who came over with yet more items for the house. Kids played and did whatever. I think Feche Boy might have read some of the Odyssey. It's Barbie land in the living room and Bionicle World in the family room. Classical Ed world, right here. Ha.
Tuesday - had several false starts on the trip to MN to pick up Rachel for the last leg of her return home. Finally went back home with sacks of Happy Meals and the notsolittles while KB and Feche Boy went to the big city. I worked on inventory sheets. The littles played and watched Santa Clauses 1& 2. I joined them for 3. The older kids returned home with harrowing stories of near fatal car incidents. I think all of our IQ's might have plummeted by a couple of points and my left elbow shows all the signs of a sports injury due to hours spent bent over a computer.
Wednesday - last day of modified TDA. Drama, art. The younger kids made structurally unsound gingerbread houses and trees, had a blast on the play-ground and gym. We did finish up Pilgrim's Progress, which the kids loved. KB was aghast that we read the kids a story where everyone died in the end and wanted to know if it was written during the Black Plague. Uh, no. The older kids had serious play practice as Tantara season has officially begun. Actually ate salad with dinner. Could cause a gastronomical revolution.
Thursday - went through piles of clothes with Miss. R. I think Feche-Boy and Cub read a little. Flower and I read stories, first her, then me. I love the level books. Returned items to Stuff Mart- broken stuff straight from the box. ugh.
Friday- returned more items that won't work/don't fit to 4 different stores. Went Christmas shopping with Miss.R. Reviewed the events and stresses of the last 3 months. Given how well everything turned out there is still a lot that just didn't turn out well.
Met up with friends from Rapid who gifted us with yet more toys/curriculum. We have been overwhelmed with kindness.
Viking Man and I finally used a year old gift card and celebrated our June anniversary by going out to a nice restaurant. It was great to sit across from each other, hold hands and order whatever we wanted from the menu. His body temp runs hot, or at least warm and while I get cold in September and thaw around late May, he is usually peeling off layers. I'm huddled in the corner shivering and he's sweating. I would say opposites attract but I get hung up on the line in Treasure Planet where Dr. Doppler says, "you know what they say, "opposites, well, repel, actually, but...." so I'll just drop it. Did a little more Christmas shopping. Actually I think the majority of our Christmas items can be counted under replacement items on our insurance claim. Twofer.
The insurance company totaled out the house. Love the check. Too bad most of it doesn't belong to us. New relationships to be formed at the bank. Thank-God our mortgage was held by a local bank. Really appreciating our claims adjuster.

Friends that we know from Pierre not only sent us a box of brand new curriculum but also a box of wrapped and wonderful advent gifts. It has been a high light for the notsolittles to read and open a present each evening. Last night Cub unwrapped bathtub crayons and both of them woke up wanting baths. What a sweet blessing. And I'm so behind thank-you cards. But every.single.night. I thank God for the Borah family and their generous act of kindness that has blessed our family so much.

The big news of the week is that no-one keeled over from Fast Food Poisoning and everyone survived everyone elses mood swings. "I'm not a therapist or anything (unless you live here or are related to Viking Man or I) but I think s/he suffers from mood disorders." Still sorting out the tragedy and blessings of the last several months. Another week survived. I call it a win.

Sheets

My life has been about sheets lately. First off, some friends from church, who happen to own a furniture store, among the many other things they do vocationally and avocationally, blessed our family with beds. Nice beds. Pillow top, comfy, fall into bliss beds. If you are in the market for quality, beautiful furniture and great customer service visit our friends, the Klein's, at

Platte Furniture Mart: 518 Main Street Platte, SD 57369(605) 337-3028.

It's been a lot of fun decorating aforementioned beds. We've been gifted with soft, warm, beautiful sheets and comforters from friends from all over. Flower was given a too cute bed set with tea pots and flowers. The boys were given custom made American Indian motive sets, and KB has stuck with down. The generosity of God's people has continued to blow us away.When I'm not sleeping on my comfy bed I've been filling out inventory sheets for the insurance company. As we off-loaded the contents of the house to the gravel truck we wrote down as much descriptive information as we could. Now I am assigning a price per line-item. It's kinda of interesting as it's virtual shopping for what we've already owned but it also gets pretty tedious. There are sheets and sheets of these pages, 30 lines to a page. I've had to laugh a couple of times because of few of the items that we received for our wedding are now classified as antiques. Seriously. And most of the stuff that I have from my mom, mother-in-law, and grandma are totally in that category. It's been an interesting look into the value of "stuff"as well as a look at the evolution of items. For instance, the sewing box my mom had from when she was a kid, and was a classic plastic box, with little drawers in it, has morphed into zippered, plastic, sectioned, high-faluting storage units that micro-manage your projects. I'm thankful that if we had to have a fire, it was done after the advent of google. I asked our claims adjuster what people did before Internet and he said, "wondered the aisles of WalMart"- egads. While googling item values by internet isn't on my top 30 Fun-things-to-do list, wandering the isles of StuffMart finding prices would send me to 4th floor somewhere fast.

In other news Miss. R is home for a short break from college. We haven't had washer and dryer facilities for over a week and while there is plenty of room for her to sleep, clean sheets and towels have been a different story. Once we get our set hooked-up we'll be focusing on cleaning sheets.

Sheets, sheets and more sheets.

On Kingship & Intimacy

Heard a sermon on Friday night about knowing God intimately. Knowing God intimately. Knowing God in such a deep and personal way that we are transparent and transformed by knowing Him, for intimacy does that to us and for us.
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I know my husband's hands. I know them by sight or touch. I've held his hands for over a quarter of a century and I know that they will be warm, well-manicured, gentle, strong and confident, creative and expressive. I know that if they are shaking he's hungry, if they are cold he's sick. I know my husband's hands as well as my own and I love his hands. I know the attributes of them, the feel, the scent, the touch. I am intimately acquainted with them and they have changed me..... do I know the attributes of God as well? Do I see and feel and hear and smell who God is? Am I intimately acquainted with Him?
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I've been impressed in the last 3 years about the Lord's kingship. I've had pictures in my mind's eye about His throne room, His throne, His majesty. Our smallness. Our humanity in light of HIM, the great I AM. That we are only significant in light of all He's created because He allows us to be. That, as vassals, we wouldn't even be invited in to the Holy of Holies without a personal invitation. But, in His Grace, He invites us in. He includes us in His Glory. He says, "Come, dine at my table, dance at my wedding, be my son, my daughter, my beloved." And in His Glory, His divinity, His majesty and splendor He says, let me get to know you. Follow so closely in my footsteps that the dust of heaven kicks up in your face and covers you with it's Glory. Follow me as Your King and I'll know you as my beloved.

Known and loved by the King.

A blessed Sabbath.

Happy Birthday, Myrna!

My friend Myrna had a birthday yesterday. She has grown older with grace and humility. She laughs easily. She exudes joy. She and her husband of 52 years are still in love, still growing, still serving, still laughing.

Thank-you, Myrna, for shinning the light of God's love wherever you go! May this coming year be one of JOY and HOPE.

Happy Birthday, Myrna!!

The Road & The Way

Read "The Road" yesterday. Odd that I had time and was without kids, but so it was. Feche Boy, KB and I had considered going to see the movie as the reviews were pretty good and I picked up a paper back copy to pre-view it. The writing was more poetry than prose throughout and the author, McCarthy is the master of the VSS (very short sentence for those non-IEW grads). Basically it's an existentialist view of what happens when the lights finally go out and the comforts of modernity cease to exist. Cannibalism and scavenging are the only means of survival and the author paints a horrific tale of life without meaning, future, hope or God. Viking Man and I were talking about some of more horrific scenes; basically where humans are kept alive as cattle and parts are harvested for food as needed. The "Boy" is horrified, demands answers from "The Man" and is told that "we are the good guys" and "we carry the flame." The flame of what is not defined, more's the pity. In other words, they don't eat other humans and would starve rather than do so. But honestly, without a value system that transcends ourselves, what is the point in NOT becoming cannibalistic. Seriously. God is hinted at but never named and The Man places his hope in the relationship with The Boy rather than in something or some One that transcends himself. The book was an interesting read, given the authors writing style, and for the fact that it saved us money at the theater I'm glad I purchased it. Other than that it was dark, dreary and worth skipping. It's Christmas after all and besides bright lights we are hanging our hope on the LIGHT of the world, whose birth we celebrate this season.

JOY TO THE WORLD. THE LORD IS COME.

Alleluia

Shrink Speak

Dr. Viking Man, long time shrink, summed up the house situation yesterday by saying, "I feel like I've been in a 6 year long relationship with a borderline who finally offed herself." I asked if "she" (the house) intended to actually kill herself or just cause a lot of damage. His response, "With a borderline, it's always hard to tell."

Sad to say but we both howled. For a long time.

Fun.

Tonight the kids went swimming and KB and I sat watching, laughing, reading the non-informative paper, making fun of the "news" and texted back and forth, roaring with laughter at our own silliness and stupidity. Later we went on Craigslist and looked at furniture and possibilities cause we need pretty much a house worth-full and it didn't surprise me too much that we liked the same stuff.

We went on friends Face book pages and KB pretended to be me and vice versa and we left goofy messages.

I like my kids. Especially as they become adults and morph into like-minded friends. One of life's profound and simple pleasures.