Blessings

Meet KB in town yesterday with everyone, split in to 2 cars and everyone finished their Christmas shopping with a stop for food stuffs to create really great food. It's cool to have kids with their own ideas and bank accounts and generous spirits to want to give good things to each other. 

We discovered a Western Store in our fair city- very dangerous for the likes of us. You walk in and it has that rustic leather smell. It is chock full of unique clothing that is western enough to appeal to the conservatives amongst us and funky enough to appeal to the artistic amongst us, with walls of skinny jeans for the skinnys amongst us, gorgeous leather boots and hats and saddles and tack...we all waxed nostalgic about the west for awhile (Viking Man was born in NM, as were Cub and Flower). We're still sorta in the west, but the southwest is a world unto itself.

Cooking, baking, staining and polyurethaning on the menu today. Viking Man and his band of merry men are already upstairs measuring and inventorying trim. We are re-using the old door jambs from before the fire but they need sanding, stained and poly'd. The kids and I had stained hundreds of yards of trim and, honestly, it is a job I know loath. It's easy, work-wise, but it smells and you are bent over so your back is yelling obscenities at you by the end of the day, and it's now very cold on the porch, and work gloves and a nice stain job don't go together. The good news is that we have wood to stain, and stain and a husband who knows what he's doing, or at least invested and smart enough to figure it out.

Yesterday Viking Man received a thoughtful card and gift box from former clients. The card said that they were happier than they had been ever, their faith is strong, their relationship solid and they owe much to the wisdom that he offered them.

KB said to me on our way home last night, "Do you know how blessed we are. We want to buy presents for each other, so we go and buy them. Our car gets low on fuel and we go and fill it up."

We are blessed in so many ways; health, freedom, work that is meaningful. Very blessed, indeed!

Bird by Bird

When I asked the Hive what their fav "how to write" books were for the list I was making for my high schooler Creative Writing class, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird was mentioned over and over again. Unbelievably, I had never heard of her before. Sometimes the best is last and right now she is vying for "best find of the year" in my 52/11 list!

Bird by Bird is Lamott's "Some instructions on Writing and Life." It's kinda the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for Writers. Great points on writing and the writing life and a whole lotta philosophy on living and dealing with getting stuck- in writing and in life- and on dealing with one's own narcissism and self-doubt.

Ann is liberal and opinionated and bare bones, with enough swear words to make even me, reformed (most days) gutter mouth that I am, flinch every now and then. Along with all of that she is laugh out loud funny; evry funny; really funny; and wise. I want to call Anne and confess to her that even though I probably disagree with her political and social views I would like to hire her as my writing mentor,  adopt her as my sister, or both.

I do have a better understanding of writing from reading this book. In fact, Anne makes writing for a living seem do-able. Maybe it's cause I relate to her random global rambly-connectedness. She is bunny trailer extraordinaire (and my dh thought I was!). Anne makes writing as simple as putting down thoughts, as reasonable as confession, as poetic as weather. She defines character, first drafts, plot and design. She also goes over interesting tid-bits such as why you write, getting published, and index cards, an item apparently not to be overlooked by the serious writer. 

She also talks about the importance of transparency, honesty and morality. Along the way, she points to the co-dependence 98% of us live with, the importance of naming pain and treats us all to a healthy dose of 12 step and faithful living.

I loved this book. My new fav author for the year was going to be Addison Allen- mystical realism, baby, bring it on. I LOVE Allen's writing. But Lamott's nitty gritty, life's a b*tch, own your grief and anger and the damaged person that you are and be there with it, breathe, laugh about it, laugh hard and long, spoke to me profoundly.  I've requested all of her titles from the library. I need the dose of nitty-gritty, and the dose of funny right now.

Lamott ends her book on writing with this: "So, why does our writing matter..."
Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life; they feed the soul. When writer's make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship."

Yep. That's what words and books and stories have been for me. She gets it, she is writing my truth, with wit and humor.

Fairy Flower Party!

Instead of writing class today we had a Flower Fairy making party, complete with cupcakes, other goodies, wine and cheese and the expertise of fairy flower maker extraordinaire, Miss. R, home for winter break.

Aren't they cute? Silk flowers, wooden beads, florist wire, embroidery floss, a little glue and colored pencils.

They had a blast making them, playing with them, and giggling together- imagine that!

Embracing Odd Offers

I've been reading William Shatner's latest book in the aisle at Sam's. Cheesy, I know, but reading, it's my way...He's funny, but a bit crude, but very funny. He writes about embracing the odd offer and how that can lead to amazing things you would never dream of. You know the sentiment. That's kinda my motto. Actually, my motto is "If you have 2 loaves of bread, sell one and buy a lily." Cause growing things are my thing. But I've modified it to, “If you have 2 loaves of bread, sell one and try to eek a lily and book out of it. If that doesn’t work, sell another ½ loaf of bread and add more water to the soup" Despite my motto not being exactly like his, the gist of it is, embrace as much as you can.   I agree with Bill - you know, William Shatner. I feel like I can call him Bill because when I was 8 and he was Capt. James T. Kirk, I was going to marry him. Our relationship goes way back and even thought he was divorced and re-married again before I even graduated from high -school, he was still my first love. (I pretended that Jimmy Swaggart was in 3rd grade, only 'cuase my older sister had claimed John Wayne, but it was all a ruse).

I embraced a rather odd offer this week-end to discover a huge blessing, the details of which I can't share. But it was huge and wonderful and totally, unbelievably unexpected. This was on the heels of another really cool gift that a good friend of mine surprised me with ‘cause God told her to do something wild and crazy at 3 a.m. during a bout of insomnia. Two-fer. Just cause. God’s so cool like that.  

Blessed, very blessed even if I think the Bill should have passed on the Priceline account.

The True Meaning of Christmas

Yesterday at Bible Study the topic was "how we celebrate Christmas" (some of our study members don't). It was a great study (again) that included Astronomy (Dr. Geek saw to that) Jewish & pagan festivals, and the birth and conception date of Christ.

The conception date of Jesus is is probably during the Winter solstice (in the Northern hemisphere, where over 80% of the world's population dwells) during the darkest days of the year.

Light came in to the world. He dwelt among us.

He didn't have to.

He choose to. He loved to.

He entered into the world on its darkest days.

I like Christmas; the decorations, the tree, twinkle lights, the music and movies and church songs and services- mostly. But it can also be a time of intense pressure. Come up with presents that are meaningful from an already strained budget and create  holidays that are memory making and picture worthy. It's supposed to be magical and stress free.

My Mom was not perfect, but the one thing she did better than anyone else was to create magic at Christmas. She's been gone over a decade and I've felt the loss each and every year. No one else has stepped in to fill her shoes and while I'm good to have around in a crisis and have lots of other redeemable qualities, magic making is not my gift. My husband's mantra this year has been, in response to everything I think needs to be done, is this; "Does this glorify the light coming in to the darkness. Because if it doesn't we don't need to do it."

And honestly, I think Dr. Viking Man got it right (again).. We try to create something wonderful, (I do at least) protect our kids from disappointment (maybe that's just me). When, in reality, all we need to do is really get a hold of the fact that

LIGHT

 came into the Darkness and the Darkness could not wrap it's arms around it.

Because of that the darkness can not wrap it's arms around us. 

The presents, food, twinkle lights, memories, it's all good. But it's not the heart of the matter. I want my kids to know the reality of Christmas. It's bigger and beyond presents and expectations (theirs and ours). It's about Him, not us.

A Blessed Sabbath!

Faith & The Pioneer Spirit

Just finished Faith by Jennifer Haigh. Briefly, it is about the sex scandal in the Catholic church and the fall-out. This intrigued me because of the comments made in interviews in a book I read last year, "Being Catholic Now." Lots of moral comments, made from publically immoral people, about how the church handled things and the outrage that was felt. There is some discussion about church politics (and wow, were the priests accused really hung out to dry in such an infamous manner?!)  but the real depth of this book is about family legacies, systems, fear, and petty thieves (both religious and criminal) preying on others.
This is really the story of a priest who himself was molested as a child. He laid down his life to secure a brighter future for another lost boy and in doing so, created a richer legacy for his siblings as well.
Haigh's ability to create believable characters, characters like us, who love and are disappointed and confused, and hope for love that satisfies rings true throughout the pages.
A beautiful story about redemption through sacrifice. In the end, the priest cared for his people, loved his tribe well and gave all that he had. A really lovely, believable story.

 

The kids and I also finished These Happy Golden Years and the First Four Years. Jeez Louise. If you ever feel like life is 1 step forward, 2 back, read this book and you'll feel much gratitude for the life you have. I love.LOVE. Laura's writing. It is simple and straightforward and sweet. I've read these books at least 6-8 times and each time another aspect of the family and gender roles and the American West stands out to me. We're now reading The Way Home, which seems so very real to us because they traveled within 20 miles of our home, on their way to the Big Red Apple.
And yes, I'm counting the series under my 52 books for the year.

Tis the Season

... for suicidal deer and Christmas Trees...

Our annual trek to the tree cutting farm started with a false start the day before. They closed just before we got there, no thanks to being within spitting distant of Iowa. On the way home a suicidal Odocoileus virginianus jumped in front of the car resulting in a dead deer and $495 car damage. Great timing, right. So much for the table saw and several Xmas presents. Paying cash is a great way to live. Mostly. On the positive side, a friend of mine went to a co-workers funeral- killed by swerving out of the way of a deer- just last week. I figure body work on the car is cheaper than a funeral. And much less hard on everybody. Thank God for His protection from testosterone crazed deer!

Anyway, Feeche's grimace, above, is in response to the lack of selection for sale (the selection was great, it's just most of the trees weren't actually for sale- what?!). The trees that were for sale were over $50. What?! We decided to do one more go around before heading to Get -n-Go for a $20 Tree.

My "location" in case ya don't know is "Where the cold wind blows." There is a reason for this. The wind blows here, a lot,  and it is wicked cold when it does. KB and I going for the Russian peasant look (no offense to Russian's, or peasants!)

We did find a tree, in the back of the lot, well away from Iowa, I'm talking the back.of.the lot. for much less than $50. Still, if you add in the $495 for the car repair, this is the most expensive tree we've ever purchased.

We've picked the tree. Everyone agrees it's the one.

This is the point where I abandon my husband. For one, he sweats when it's cold out, due to the many, many layers he wears, and his amazing metabolism . I get cold in, say, mid-October and slightly thaw in May. Around August I'm fully thawed, if I work out, or weed in mid-day sun, on days when it's 80 or 90 degree weather wearing a sweatshirt. So, really, the only reason that we cut a tree every year, rather than just cutting one of construction paper in the safety, and warmth of our own home, is that he likes cold weather. Seriously. Strange man.

The tree fought back, but the Prussian won. WooHaw. Saw a delightful Xmas film called Silent Night, set during WWII where German and American soldiers end up eating Christmas dinner together. The one guy says, "So you're German, right." The Paul Barnes (friend from college) look-alike proudly and properly corrects him, "Prussian actually." Ya have to know my dh to know just how funny this is. He's Prussian, btw.

Freshly back from the big, bad warm and temperate city of Atlanta. I said, "no gang signs" (just like Robert Downy Jr. in Iron Man I, right) but they totally blew me off.

Christmas Cuties. Ready to go home to hot-chocolate, Christmas carols (after all these years, A Charlie Brown's Xmas is stilla fav! Thank-you, Laura!) and trashing decorating the house.

Cub got into the holiday spirit by decorating the kissing ball. Do you see the Xmas themed bionicle lurching out of the symbol of love? (Disregard the mess. The kids were trashing decorating the house!)

Is your tree up? Link pics ; )

Integrated Parenting 101

We have friends who are constantly commenting on their children's spiritual acumen; their profound prayers, their prophetic words. I've been a parent long enough to know that developmentally kids under the age of 7 are oft fond of mimicking their parents. It's not that I disbelieve that their children are spiritual powerhouses, it's just that, really, in the grand scheme of things, little children and their parents have not been tried and tested, have not weathered the storms of puberty, have not suffered mentored kids who want to argue for the sake of it, or really gone through enough as parents to do much more than dote on their kid. And really, the kids haven't gone through much either. If these kids weren't exposed to this stuff, would they come up with it on their own? In many ways, they are merely repeating what they've been taught, are seeking the praise and approval of their parents (This sounds cynical, I know. I'm all about capitalizing on a kids desire to parrot and please. I brag about the results myself. I just don't think we should count it as something it's not).

At the same time these parents are exposing their kids to lots of spiritual stuff, they take them to day care full time, drop them off at public school and pick them up from after-care. I know the day care and I know the school system. They are both "good." Good in the sense that they teach the kids academic stuff and there is very little change of bodily harm. But I see the parents actions as dichotomous. The thing that does not make sense to me is that this Christian family- and many like it- believe that they can train their kids in a certain context for a small amount of time a week, and at the same time their kids intellect, bodies and hearts are being trained in a totally different and dare I say it, adverse context, for hours and hours and hours a week and they believe that their heart training will win out. Schools are not Christian, (though I will assert they are religious, but that's a different discussion altogether) and offer paradigms and beliefs that vie for a child's heart and mind. Can a person so divorce themselves that their heart be trained in one belief system, their intellect in another and they not have to make a choice between the two?

The reality is that only 4% of   kids raised in Christian homes these day, keep the faith; keep the faith in a way that is decidedly and markedly Christian; keep the faith in a way that has the appearance, rather than just the words of a moral code. Somewhere along the line, the training isn't taking, or it's falling away, or it's being snuffed out by something more alluring and appealing to the kids. Somewhere along the way, many kids believe that Christianity is "almost christian" and that "almost" is just as good. Heart felt community is lacking in the American Church. True community is lacking outside of it, but at least their is some semblance of belonging in other quarters. Intellectual training- study as worship- is a foreign concept both inside and outside the church, and "good "Christian schools often substitute legalism for education that stirs the soul and calls men and woman to do courageous things for God.

The reality is that if we want to "reach" our kids; reach their hearts and minds, and imprint something on both that is permanent and true, we must live radically, we must live in a way that is different. It's a lonely road to homeschool. It's a lonely road to be a homeschooler. I hear this from not only my older adult kids, but from thier friends. Living so radically away from the norm makes them different in profound ways.  Good, Godly ways, but ways that ostracize them from the average, the norm. And, honestly, homeschooling is not the only way to tackle this arduous task, but in some ways, as my friend Jennifer says, it's the easiest (and that too, is a whole 'nuther essay). People who don't live intentionally with a thought and care to train the hearts and minds of their children, who don't understand the profound influences that will clamour and shout for their children's hearts and minds, are naive, at best.

I was served by a beautiful young woman in Starbucks last week with a tattoo emblazoned across her collarbone in calligraphy. It said, "Self Preservation." I've thought about that a lot this week. Because I don't endeavor to give my kids the tools of self-preservation. If anything I want them to see their desperate need for SomeOne bigger, mightier and infinitely more dangerous, wild and free than they can ever be. I want them dependent on the Living God, and ready, willing and able to go and do and be whatever He is calling them to.

I can't do that for them, but I can empower them to have hearts and minds open to it, uncluttered by what the world has to offer their hearts, minds and bodies.

Thoughts?

2 Much Love

I was talking with a friend of mine last week who mentioned that she "probably loved her kids too much." I found that a fascinating statement. Can there be "too much love?"

 As a homeschooler I have heard most of the negative comments and labels thrown around about homeschoolers - that I am a helicopter mom, enmeshed with my children, afraid and controlling. It is rarely offered up that I am a concerned, educated woman, providing, (like the financially wealthy),  my children  a private, personalized education, affording them time and solitude, excellent literature and home cooked meals, because I want the very best for them. Going off the beaten path is a threat to the norm, rather than the hope of finding an extraordinary path.

Can we "love out kids too much." True love preaches good news to the poor, heals the broken hearted, announces freedom to all captives, pardons all prisoners, announces the year of the Lord's grace, celebrates the destruction of God's enemies, comforts all who mourn, gives beauty for ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. True love heals, frees, brings forth joy.

The answer to the question rests on definitions. If I determine love to be Biblical (as in Isaiah 61, above) my answer will be 180 different than if I define love from a different source.

I read an interesting articles on "Why the World Hates the Duggar's"  I love what this gal said in response to the ugliness floating around the net about them. It's all in definitions and expectations, world-view and theology.

What do you think?

Brr...

I hope I'm getting points somewhere for living in this climate. If I've mentioned it's cold here, rest assured it's not hyperbole.

We're reading aloud the Little House books. It just blows me away that these folks lived in the Territories, in homes with no insulation and inadequate heat and lived to tell about it.

- 6 yesterday morning. Feeche and KB are in for a rude homecoming tonight when they return from Georgia.

Winding Down

Another slow week. This cold is from the dark side. It just won't relinquish it's hold.

Homeschool: We did math. I have an exciting new math program, waiting for review (with an awesome give-away, too!). Cub did his work for Tutoring Center.

We had another guest speaker for my Creative Writing Class- the state co for Poetry Outloud. Another great program for the Rhetoric stage.

We read- These Happy Golden Years. The time-line for this and Little Town on the Prairie are skewed, but the kids continue to enjoy the series. Flower, Cub and I have been taking turns reading. It's nice to see Flower's ease and comfort level with reading improving.



We also watched John Adams. Loved it. I like how the producers kept it a period piece.  For instance, every one's teeth ends up rotting. Love that. Not the teeth rotting part, but the fact that they didn't sanitize the production. It's one of my pet peeves about historical documentaries. As a result, you get a real sense of how physical decay was a real deal back then. The bond between Abigail and John was very sweet and the fact that they portrayed a real man- one with failures, struggles, vanity, made it very much worth watching.

Of course, I had to look up Giamanti (the actor that portrayed Adams) afterwards and was floored to see that he was the manager in Cinderella Man- cool. We ended up watching that, just for fun. Interesting actor with a fascinating family-  his Dad was the prez of Yale University and the and the major league baseball commissioner who banished Pete Rose from baseball. His great grandfather, Commodore Alfred Brown, was the first and only man to swim the Panama Canal. His mom and bro were/are both in the acting biz, too.

Viking Man continued to work on the downstairs basement. The ceiling is in, he'll finish texturizing today, I'll prime and paint tomorrow. We still have wood trim to install but it's sanded so I'll get it painted tomorrow, too. Then the light fixtures and the mirror go up and last of all a door knob. Details, details. We still have a million to get too.

Next up is trim on the 2nd floor. We have lots of cuts to make and dh is deliberately considering tool choices- we'll have to purchase a couple at least. And we have stairs to figure out. I have a board on Pinterest devoted to stairs. Who knew there was such diversity in stairs?

Friday was our last day of co-op for several weeks. My kids love co-op so they are not so happy about the break. But, we'll have visitors in between and One Act Play rehearsals and the Poetry Outloud competition, Christmas and 3 birthdays, so it's not like we won't be busy. Not to mention that Tutoring Center goes for 2 more weeks, and starts up again right off on the 3rd.

Last song of the season "On That Holy Mountain." Just beautiful!

Check out my Mom Gear Give-Away. RSD are offers purses (among other fab designs). The durability, beauty and washability of these purses make them a great addition to a busy homeshool, or working mom's, wardrobe. Sign-up soon! you have a GREAT chance of winning!

Our first snowfall of the season last night. Winter usually hits here with a vengeance just after Thanksgiving. It's been a dry, khaki colored fall.

Check out my review of Chapter 4 on Give Them Grace: License and Legalism over at HSV.

2 Thumbs Down Book Review

I've been doing lots of reading about how to write of late, getting resources together for my band of merry writers on Tuesday (I teach a group of homeschool high schoolers Creative Writing- lucky me!). Of course, suspension of belief, is a big no-no for writer's. In other words, your writing needs to be believable.

Which leads me to a book review: The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg. I love history. I adore ancient history, and historical fiction is my fav genre. So I thought I would love this book. It's the Christmas season, it's about the Holy Family and it had a lovely cover. The book ends with Joesph confessing that he doesn't believe in the immaculate conception, he doesn't believe that he was directed by an angel to marry Mary. He marries Mary based on his own desire to possess Mary's beauty, his own lust.
My summation of this book: Blech. The author is too shallow to understand that she toys with the divine, that she has written words that slander men in general, and God's appointed earthly father to His Son in particular. Oy vey. Sad to say that this writer could not conceive of a man that would lay down his life to serve sacrificially, to love wholeheartedly. Instead she paints a picture of a family that is based on lies and deceit, lack of trust, love that is stingy and wholly about sensuality. Mary and Jesus are the ones "in the know" while Joseph is the odd one out. I'm not a therapist or anything (o.k. I am) and it would be, oh to easy, to speculate about Berg's family based on the sad story she portrays in this one. As if it was too much to hope for something more than what we often see - a family conceived by the very breathe of God.

The virgin birth is the ultimate suspension of belief in so many ways. And apparently, Berg isn't buying it- at least she's not buying that Joseph bought it. Too bad for her.

Week-end Wrap-up

The basement bathroom has a ceiling. It's not finished yet, but it's up. This was not a simple dry-walling job; this entailed having the electrician come in to do some fancy wiring, drilling a hole through the cement block foundation, building a small soffet, putting in the housing for the fan/light and then finally getting the drywall in. The first round of mud is on and by next week-end we hope to have the texturizing done. My dh is the man.

On his breaks from working on the ceiling, he pulled out a floor's worth of wood trim that he salvaged from the barn, 12" kick board, trim and 1/4 round for the doors. I sanded several pieces to trim out the bathroom door and floor, but ran out of paint so could go no farther. We'll give the rest a light sanding, paint it and trim out the entire basement in original wood trim. Booyah!

Daddy finished reading The Long Winter 2 nights ago, the kids and I blew through Little Town on the Prairie yesterday and we started These Happy Golden Years today. The only way I'll even come close to finishing 52 books this year is if I count the Little House Series. By gum, I'm gonna.

KB and Feeche are kicking back shrimp and soaking in the balmy GA sunshine, hanging with their campaign homies. They'll get back a few days before Miss R comes for Xmas vacation, then her beau, Barnie Fife will be here for a week after Christmas.It will be nice to have a full house for the holidays.

It's colder, down below freezing every night, but we got the trees and bushes covered and taped. Bring it on. (Or don't. I'm all about mild winters).

Black Friday Mom Gear Give-Away

I am thrilled to share with you Rebekah Scott Designs. Rebekah is the relative of my irl friend, Jannell (artteajannell) who is a talented seamstress. Rebekah takes it up a notch and created a business with her skills.

Above is the Barbie. One lucky person will be winning a Barbie of their choice!

Rebekah creates hand-bags, cutie patootie booties for babies and more. But the item I want to tell you about are her handbags. These handbags are a homeschool/working Mommas dream. They are sturdy, attractive and washable. Not only that but you can choose the design and the fabric that you want.

I'm not really a hang-bag kinda gal, but I do have one because it's a convenient place to store my "stuff"- you know, I.D., current book, cuticle cream, kids stuff, etc. However, finding a bag that is cute enough but not cutesy, affordable, sturdy, washable and comfortable is, like, a modern day miracle. I did finally find one but it cost a fortune and within a year the zipper broke. It was large and roomy but after a while that became a liability as it morphed into my own personal black hole. The thing that I really, really like about RSD bags is that they have pockets all around the inside of them!

Love that!

On top of it all, Rebekah is a really cool gal. She's a stay at home, working Mom, who puts in long days getting the job done and taking care of her family. A great product run by  a fabulous person. Win/win.

So, want to win the Barbie? Here's what you do. Go to Rebekah Scott Designs and sign up on  their mailing list. Come back here and leave a comment, letting me know which RSD product you like the best. Let people know about the contest through FB and Twitter and get another chance at winning (lmk you've done so!). That's it! We'll have the drawing on December 16, 2011. The winner will have 5 days to contact me with their contact info!

BONUS: To celebrate Thanksgiving you can take 10% OFF orders placed by December 6

(use Coupon Code: THANK10)

or purchase a purse to receive acoordinating Cosmetic for only $12!

(use Coupon Code: COSMETIC12)

Thanksgiving

Need some good reading? Check out the latest Carnival of Homeschooling. It's chock full of great articles. The theme this week is Thanksgiving. Totally apropos, eh?

When polled the only thing the kids all agreed on for Thanksgiving was "Pies."
We're having pumpkin, banana cream and pecan.

My patient but carnivorous husband wanted to be assured that lots of protein was on the menu. They'll be Turkey, but this year we are roasting an organic, hormone-free, free  range bird.
To complement the main dish we'll be serving up
Cranberry- orange relish
Relish tray
Spinach salad
Sweet Potato souffle
NM corn
Refrigerator rolls
Deviled Eggs
Cheese Ball

Drinks will consist of home-made grape juice.

Dessert will be aforementioned pies and pumpkin spice lattes.

What's on your menu?

Work LOVE

Our older kid/adults scored what they believe to be the perfect job- feeding calves.

They get up at 0'dark:30 to go mix formula to bottle feed a bunch of bovines.

We had an impromptu field trip (literally!) yesterday.

First you mix and pour the milk...

...threatening your sibs with whatever implement you have on hand...

...Cap the bottles....

Drive out to the barns, or the huts, or the field.....

....and feed them babies!...Hopefully, they aren't stronger than you are!....

...pet 'em....

...say how cute they are a million times...

.. Sweet talk them into eating...

...and then beg your Momma to add livestock to your life (NOT!)....

We've had a great time joking KB that she is

beauty queen by day,

construction worker by night,

 and field hand by week-end.

Come Friday she'll be back on the campaign trail!

Love Wins

A year ago my Dad died.  It's been a rewarding and hard year. We are still re-building from the fire. It has been fun and rewarding and exhausting and taxing all at the same time cause we live in a house under construction, meaning we haven't totally unpacked. This has led to double purchases and entire school subjects, as well as shoes and other sundry items, being missed. We continue to homeshool. It is, as always, fun and rewarding and exhausting and taxing. Our life is about extremes. Some we've created ourselves. Some have been thrust upon us.

Coming to terms with my Dad’s death has been rough. He is the man who got down on his knees with me and led me in the sinner's prayer when I was 20 after walking away from the pastorate and the church when I was 5. He is also the man who spent the last many years trying to talk me out of my beliefs, speaking with ridicule about those who commit themselves to a "model of conformity” and pedantic religion. My Dad was a man of extremes. Like his Dad he was charismatic and passionate and could talk people into complete and total paradigm shifts. He could also be moody and cold, his lack of response to people chilling. He read voraciously and was incredibly educated but would not engage in logical debate if it did not suit his purposes.  It could be fun and rewarding to be with him and exhausting and taxing. In that, I’m sure he is like any other person. The difference being that he was my Dad. Not a stranger. Not someone I was indifferent too.

My husband used a phrase this morning regarding a proposed interaction with someone: "It will only serve to underscore the basic alienation of the relationship." This is what Christ did for my father and I. Christ underscored the alienation between us. My Dad was always asking, always demanding, in his charismatic way, that I give up my religion (never understanding that it was the person of Truth, not a religion that I follow- but even that statement is divisive because who am I to declare “Truth”- as if I know and others do not? I only know because I know Jesus, the Son of the Living God), and follow something less hard, more “rewarding,” more power and wealth oriented, more “successful.”  

Years ago, as a new believer I was under the naive assumption that I would pray well and hard, witness vibrantly through words and actions and those that I loved would see the Way, the Truth and the Light, embrace Jesus as a Risen Savior and life would be happy and fulfilling. The prayers of a righteous man (or woman) availeth much, true? And yet, Christ was the divisor between my family and I. Scriptural, I know; immensely painful, yes. I’ve been told, that I should rejoice in sharing in Christ’s suffering, that His followers will share in his loss, his ridicule, his pain, his alienation. Truth is I don’t; I don’t take comfort in it, not really. I know in my heart of hearts that that is the way of things. But my heart hurts.

It has shaken me to the core this year how foundational my Dad’s thoughts, paradigms, love, has been to my life, even when we both choose radically different paths to follow.  I though that I was past caring what he thought. I was past being hopeful for his approval. I was past being a small child longing for their Daddy. But no; I am not.

I loved my Dad. He loved me. That is something I know. And I trust that Love – the person, the Truth, won out in my Dad’s life. Love won out.  

Shabbat Shalom link up at Pebble Crossing

Opposing Views

This short could be titled either, "An Apologetic for Memory Work," or "Post Modernism's Big Win."



And this, "How to Make Your Pathology Work for You" (written very tongue in cheek- this is just brilliant.)

 

Sick Days

Under the weather this week with a bronchial/cold thang. Spent a lot of the week kickin' back the cough and cold meds and brewing tea.

Continued painting with the help of Gala and KB. Got all of the bedrooms, halls upstairs and down and bathroom upstairs done. Then re-did the master bedroom (my husband thinks off-white is an actual color- he is Neutral Man - however, I did agree with him on the first color- too peach, or something. One pink and one blue bedroom for the notsolittles. That's love, baby. The older kids are laying claim to the basment and the attic rooms. We also did the soon-2-be office room in 2 colors using a 2 part roller. It's very neutral with a lotta omph. I can't wait to get the espresso stained trim up- it's gonna look gorgeous.

Worked on Latin. Watched Plimoth Plantation videos on-line, watched Colonial Children DVD. Did a lot of mazes, dot to dots, number  and word searches. Didn't get a whole lotta other homework done but reading. Cub knocked out another Redwall book, Feeche continues to work on Citadel of God and Flower discovered a new series called Animal Ark about a little girl with a zillion pets. In our world of read-alouds we are  on to The Long Winter. I really, truly, do not like this book. I love Mrs. Ingalls Wilder's writing. I do. I just hate this book. We live an hour from the location of the aforementioned book. It's cold here, that much is for certain. I feel it enough already, I sure as heck don't need to read about it. And secondly, we saw the claim shanty last year, making the story all the more real, all the more cold, all the more traumatic. My take on this reading (6th time through) is that these pioneer type folks just went from trauma to trauma. Did you know that Laura had originally titled the book, "Starvation Winter" but her publisher thought it would scare the children. Um, yeah.
I watched Lincoln Lawyer during one of my sick days. Not our usual genre but great story. Loved the extras with author Connelly and his take on being an author. Loved seeing Matthew McConaughey as a hard hitter with heart.  Loved the shots of L.A. and recognized highways and locations - hey, I used to work in Van Nuys! I could almost feel the balmy ocean air. Loved how the tangled web was resolved. Mysteries used to be one of my fav genres. Poirot or Miss. Marple anyone?

Discovered a church library this week that is open to the public and houses a treasure trove of literary good stuff. Read my first Terri Blackstock book: Vicious Cycle. Not bad but the believability of a couple scenes didn't work for me. I'm working on Joesph by Joyce Landorf. Interesting perspective, beginning with the lives of Rachel, Leah and Jacob and Laban.

Published author Karen Schutte was a guest speaker for my high school writing class this week, talking about writing, getting published and selling books. Next guest speaker will be Publisher Jean Tennant of Shapato Publishing. I'm hoping the kids get inspired by hearing from those involved in the real world of books and publishing.

What did your week look like?
Find more inspiration at Conversion Diaries, the Friday Blog Hop and Homeschool Chick.

Envision and Do

The Time Warp Wife is having a 31 Days Challenge and today, Day 28 is a guest post on Dreaming Together. It struck a cord with me because, while my husband and I have done a lot of things ineptly in life, the one thing we rock at is dreaming. We are visionaries. And the other thing we do exceptionally well is do. We envision and then we put our hand to the plow. This explains the plethora of degrees and children that we have together, the number of times we've moved, the educational anarchy that we embrace, the house that we are working on and most of the details of our lives, including how we worship and study and the Messiah that we embrace. God's of wood and stone just don't give one ample enough opportunity to envision beyond oneself. It's so limited and narcissistic.

I was told by a friend several years ago that I am odd because most visionaries that she knew didn't "do" and most "do-ers" that she knew didn't envision. That just seems really bizarre to me cause I thought faith without works was dead and "submit yourselves one to another" were actual directives, not suggestions. The division of doers and visionaries in the current political climate of the American church seems to be a division of labor designed to stunt the growth of all involved, both queen/king and worker bee alike, perpetrated by the current business model that the American church has adopted. Those in "leadership" with the professional degrees are the ones that get to do the envisioning while the worker bees get to be the hands and feet. Leading to a lack of mutual accountability and the full development of the body beyond the head. My husband and I both have seminary degrees so maybe I've just seen too much. Maybe if I believed in the magical formula of higher ed more, or seminary more, or the head being the grand poombah of the church more I wouldn't be so cynical and keep writing these type of posts. And yet....

Back to the point of this post; what are we currently envisioning?
Our house being done. We've been sanding floors and walls and ceilings, texturizing, painting, washing out junk from clothes and brushes and rollers and talking about colors and what's next every spare moment. Our vision for this property from the time we moved here was to redeem, restore, rebuild and reclaim. We are doing that to the very best of our ability. I'm not sure what God has in store for this little acreage on the edge of nowhere but somehow we are part of it. And the character that is being built into us because of it- whew. Could we get it any other way? My goal for this week is to thank-God for the hardships that we endure. I am great at being grateful for the amazing God-answered prayers of finished but the hard won and exhausting producing "waits" or "not yets" or "suffer unto Me's," are more difficult for me.

An educational environment where study is worship; where people are challenged to go beyond themselves academically, educationally and ultimately spiritually. We have a very small circle, but we believe in being faithful in the small things (I count young children as "small things" all the time!)
A church environment that is more Biblical than American in culture. Have I mentioned being faithful in small things? It's what we do.
Writing. We have so many ideas and we are both teachers at heart. We are bursting at the seams with the ideas and are so hungry and yet we are stretched to the limit on time and money and resources with what we are doing. So far it's a "not yet" answer.

What are you envisioning? What are you doing?


Find more great reading at Time Warp Wife and at HHM.

Week-end Blur

Yesterday, after a busy morning Friend Gala came over to help us paint on primer. We got the 2nd floor, ceilings and walls for 4 bedrooms, bathroom and hallway finished just after nine.

Late last night KB and bro were invited to GA for another round of campaigning, which means they'll probably miss T-day here and be gone a couple of weeks. The thought of seeing her campaign homies and having a break from school has cause KB to hum and whistle all day long, (though Flower cried for about 2 hours at the very thought of having everyone scattered for another holiday) even though she and aforementioned bro spent 10 hours feeding baby calves today. They are sore and tired. You know you're working hard when the teens are asking to go to bed!

Tomorrow we have on the agenda colorizing the aforementioned halls and walls, get classes prepped and homework ready for tutoring center.  I'll get more pictures posted of the rooms soon before the end of the world as we know it.

By the numbers over the past 2 week-ends we have blown through 15 gallons of dry wall compound. 15 gallons of primer/sealer/ and are have 7 gallons more waiting to colorize. Not to mention duct tape (different project). The ceiling of the basement bathroom didn't get finished but bills did get paid on time, so I'm thinking it was a good trade-off. Anyone who says paint is a cheap way to decorate hasn't bought much lately.

I love how God has provided different friends along the way of this little bitty house project to offer us encouragement, willing hands  and the blessing of fellowship. Thanking God for all of you who have helped in so many different ways!!

What a Week

The 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards are up for votes! Head on over to Homeschool Post and cast your vote. Have I mentioned that I would love it if you voted for THIS blog?- you can find it under:

 Favorite Homeschool Mom Blog

Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog (who me? Opinionated ?!)

 Best Nitty Gritty Homeschool Blog

 Best Homeschool Variety Blog

In our Homeschool

Academics consisted of the usual suspects: Math (Cub finished Singapore's Story Problem 5- on to 6!), LoF, Math Minute, Spectrum, Latin - LC I and First Form, History- Midieval and World, Science- A & P for Feeche and McHenry's pre-Chem for Cub, R & S, Writing. We also go out Sequential Spelling for Feeche again. He is much improved over days of old, but asked for more help.

We actually got around to doing some time line memory work with VP cards. What I love about it is that much of what Cub is reading for World History (read aloud so Flower gets the benefits as well) is that so many of the names/ places are familiar.

Had a great round the table discussion tonight about the Spanish American War, WWI, Franco and America's development as a super power. It ended with everyone conjugating poor Franco's name. "I, Frank," Uproarious laughter ensued. This is what happens when history buffs are random/global thinkers. Dr. Logical/Sequential left the fray in self-definse.

We also did a HUGE amount of house work this week
Consisting of painting 3/4 of the basement twice, first with a primer, then the large family room (currently kids dorm) with color. (See the last post for what it looks like). Viking Man and friend Mike texturized last week-end and the 3 younger kids and I got it primed on Monday. On Wednesday we added color. There is more touch-up work to do,  and we are adding a magnetized chalkboard to the area just next to the back door. We're fun like that.
Then we moved everything back into place which took a day 'cause we had to wipe down and clean everything that was speckeld with dry wall mud or dusty and do a few zillion 5 loads of laundry.
This week-end we'll tackle priming the 2nd floor. Then moving stuff around- again- so that we can get ready to tackle cutting and afixing all of the trim- hundreds of yards of it, already stained by yours truly and co. and ready to get cut and nailed on. It's looking good 'round here. Ait is soooo exciting to be making such great progress. The floors and texturizing were HUGE. The downstairs basement is almost done... I'm rambling and gushing. Sorry. It's just so kewl!

Just for Fun
Biology 101: Days of Creation Give-Away, just 'cause I want to pass along the goodness. Here's the review and how to enter.

A Picture to Share
KB's been having fun doing finger waves. Pretty cool, eh?

She had a blast researching Vera Ellen this week - one of our fav movie stars from the era of glam (you know, White Christmas, right?). We love the stories behind people's lives. Whose your favorite 50's actress/actor?

Story Prompt for the week for the High School Class was to create a sit-com. Oh my. I laughed so.hard. All 5 of these kids could make it B.I.G., change the world, rock your socks off. When they do, I hope they remember me fondly as their best writing teacher and convey thier gratitude in tangible ways (I'm shallow like that)! I also have my little fantastic 5 writing group (3rd grade girlies) in the a.m. of the same day. It's so fun. They are so stinkin' cute. We decided collectively that we're going to make a book together and bind everyone's weekly papers, and have a "Fables" Party, like it suggests in the book. Big smiles all around.

Took a walk tonight with the girls while Viking Man jogged and it's definilty getting cold out. We had on hats, gloves and as much wool as we could find. Passed a bow hunter coming out of the valley. The moon was just coming out, full and luminous in the east, and the sun was setting, full of vibrant color, in the west. Evening walks. We used to have that book. Loved it. Sweet and touching. Like our walk. Love my girlies.

How was your week?
For more great reading, head on over to Conversion Diaries, Homeschool Chick and the Hop

Basement Love

We live in an old craftsman style 4x4 farmhouse. When we moved here it had a cellar. You know, like a grandma cellar? A bit musty smelling, bad lighting, dark corners, cobwebs, canning jars and the washer and dryer. Well, thanks to our house fire and a whole lotta working to the point of stiff and tired, really stiff and really tired, we now have a basement.

.


It's not totally finished (the floors still need done) and baseboard added (in the barn, waiting to be painted and installed), the ceiling in the full bath finished (on the agenda for this weekend) and then painted.



But, it's insulated, framed, finished (vs. cement block), lots of lights (vs. a couple of hanging bulbs), an actual paint color instead of kilz.



Don't you L.O.V.E. the texture?? Adds a whole new dimension to the place.

I realize this is probably a snore post for some of you. Sorry 'bout that. But if you only knew what it's taken to get to this point. I could cry thinking about it. Cry from being stiff, tired, and thankful. Thankful for my kids and husband who work so hard, often times singing while they do so, despite the fact that 2 of them work/school full time and 1 works p.t. (this is like a 2nd full time job, ya'll). Grateful that God, in His mercy, has torn down our home in order to create something infinitely more beautiful.

Biology 101 Give-Away

Hey Ya'll. I've received a Biology 101: Biology According to the Days of Creation DVD set, brand spanking new, to give away this week. All because the makers of Bio 101 have released the second in the series, Chemistry 101, sent it to me to review and graciously threw in the Bio 101 set as a bonus. Love that!

We've already viewed Bio 101 and thoroughly enjoyed it! The information is ordered and sequential, the pictures gorgeous. There is a study guide that you can print  out to ensure that students understand the material. Despite that it's what I would call "science lite." This would make a great spine for a high school biology course, but I wouldn't consider it a stand-alone. That being said, it's very much worth getting, if your kids love science, you have some extra curriculum dollars to invest, or you have the time and resources to ramp it up to a high school unit (Carnegie- 120- 180 hours of work), which would certainly be easy enough to do.

Some of you may want to know how this series stands on the age of the earth. From the creators of the 101 series web-site:  "The objective of The 101 Series is to provide fascinating, visually–rich, and biblically–sound teaching, especially covering topics on which today's culture and Christianity conflict." Consequently, Biology 101 presents topics from a "young earth" perspective following the biblical chronology of six days of creation (with God resting on the seventh day).
Chemistry 101, so far, has been fabulous. Wes Olson starts off with a history of the field of chemistry, along the same lines as some of Tiner's books (the History of Medicine, et all). My 5th grader is taking Ellen McHenry's pre-chem this year at Tutoring Center and is fascinated, and thrilled to say that he actually understood something from his class that was confusing him, because of this DVD set. My high school junior took chemistry last year at Tutoring Center (using Prentice Hall)  but is just as interested. Again, there is a study guide included, and I'm happy to see, it's almost twice as long as the Bio 101 set. Again, the photography and graphics are terrific and chemistry is simply explained. If you have a high schooler that won't be going into a science field, but needs to know the basics, this could be just the thing you are looking for. Again, I wouldn't consider it a complete high school chem course, but it would be easy enough to add to.

So, how do you enter the give-away you ask? It's simple. Follow this blog and then leave a comment, telling me you've done so (if you're already a follower, just lmk). Tweet or mention on FB about this give-away for another shot at it (again, leave a comment and lmk). That's it. I'll be announcing the winner on Nov 17!

Stop by HHM for more great give-aways!

The 7th Annual Blog Awards are getting voted on as we speak. I'm thrilled to have been nominated in 4 categories:

 Favorite Homeschool Mom Blog

Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog (who me? Opinionated ?!)

 Best Nitty Gritty Homeschool Blog

 Best Homeschool Variety Blog

It's the little things and this made me very happy this morning. We spent the week-end texturizing the ceilings and walls in both the basement and 2nd floor. The house is in complete disarray. The kids dorm in the basement is squished into the middle of the room, they are all sleeping in the living room, there is drywall dust every.where. and we can't find clothes or books or shoes. We are one HUGE step closer to getting the house done and we are thrilled with the progress that we made this week-end but it was still exhausting, hard work and more chaos. It was nice to wake up to something fun and wonderful (not that the texurized ceilings and walls aren't, right ; )!

THANK-YOU!

There are so many awesome blogs listed. I hope you have time to peruse a bunch of them and add to your list of favorites!

And, btw,

I would LOVE your vote!

Women of God



Love this.

Frosting Ceilings

Frosting Texturizing the ceiling and walls, around 1400 square feet worth, took the majority of our time on both Saturday and Sunday. I bought a bit of paint (5 gallons worth) and plan to paint ceilings and walls this week so that we can get the kids off the living room floor and sleeping in beds again.

It's hard to tell from this picture just how lovely it all looks. But seriously, the texture adds a whole lotta finished look to the place.

Now that the walls and ceilings and most of the floors are done, we'll be turning our attention to the stairs. Ayup. I found some funky, finished in paper bags stairs on Pinterest, which might be the new look we sport going down stairs. The upstairs stairs are partly sanded. It's just the long side going down that we have to finish. We figured out using a file works quite well to get the ugly between places with.

Or this?

What think you?

We love you, Mike (and Lori and kidlets- missed you, Girlfriend!). THANK-YOU for spending your Saturday with us,working like a mad- man! Ya'll are friends indeed- over and over again.

The 3 R's

Homeschooling
We did a good amount of reading, writing, 'rithmatic. Not only am I a card carrying member of "I love Singapore Story Problems" but I also really dig their Math Practice books. Throw in some LoF and Prentice hall and welcome to our world a couple days a week. R & S Grammar and IEW for writing. Flower has written 3 1-page papers to date and is thrilled to pieces that she can do so. Both boys are cruising through First Form. Thank-you, Memoria Press!

I received a complimentary copy of Chemistry 101 and we all sat down to watch. It's interesting, kind of along the lines of the Tiner "Story of Medicine" series. This is supposed to be a high school course for Chemistry and so far I'm not convinced but  it's longer and more detailed than Bio 101 and includes a study guide. That's not to say I don't see the definite value of the program. In fact,  I'll be doing a more in-depth review of it later in the week, and including a Bio 101 give-away so stop back and check it out.
Feeche also started Apologia's Human Body. He likes Wile's  style and we have a friend willing to do dissections with us, so it should be a good class. He's 2/3 of the way through TC's Shakespeare and falls deeper in love with the Bard as he goes.

House Work- Dr. Fix- It almost has the bathroom ceiling in the basement drywalled. This included building a soffet and extending the studs of the ceiling so as not to interfere with wiring or plumbing. Everything takes long. It's one of my new proverbs. The up-side is that we have a door on that bathroom and a ceiling soon- it will be so warm and cozy. Woop!!
We have friends coming on Saturday to help frost texturize the ceilings.We have teh best looking old farmhouse ceilings you ever did see!

By the Books
I finished The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin- read my review here. Feeche continues to work through Citadel of God, Cub finished The Dragon and the Raven and Earning His Spurs, both by Henty. The deal was he could drop lit at Tutoring Center if he read a book a week. So far, not bad. Flower has fallen in love with Strega Nona. They are delightful books and I can't believe we've never read them before. We're also working on The Shores of Silver Lake. Very close to home. We feel the prairie wind a blowing.

Quote of the Day
"My books are my tools.  They also serve as my counsel, my consolation, and my comfort.  They are my source of wisdom and the font of my education.  They are my friends and my delights.  They are my surety, when all else is awry, that I have set my confidence in the substantial things of Gospel truth and right."  Charles Spurgeon 

Artistically Yours
I'm teaching Drawing to Jr. and Sr. High schoolers twice a month using Bruce McIntyre's Drawing Textbook. It's simple, covers a lot of ground and produces results. Flower begged me to start teaching her too, so today we sat down and did three lessons together. She was humming and chirpping the whole time and has been drawing since. Cub sat down and created a rocket- go figure! (see below)

What Intimidates Me
The weather. I'm not kidding. It's been chilly and overcast. NOAA is a home-page. It is reading colder and colder, with frost on the ground.  I'm getting ready for my yearly chill (I thaw about April every year). On the up-side, if you're gonna have winter, the way it's done here is nice. I live in the Sunshine State (seriously, and we don't grow oranges). Lots of bright sun all winter long, snow, city-maintained ice-rinks and good sledding. And, our valley is nice to tromp around in if your dressed for it. And you can walk on the lake, cause the ice gets so thick- broom ball, anyone?

A Picture to Share

"Flight Through the Flack" by Cubvinci

Link up with Conversion Dairies, The Blog Hop and The Homeschool Chick

The Left Hand of Darkness

I've never heard of Ursula LeGuin until I came upon a book of fantasy authors, during my L'Engle-fest.  Le Guin sounded intriguing and my literary friend, Enak, conquered, mentioning The Left Hand of Darkness. Oy vey, what a read! I did not like this book to begin with. For one, it's set on a planet called, "Winter." I live in the Territories ya'll and we have winter a fair bit of the time, prepare for it before, during and after, and dread it during the off seasons. (o.k. maybe that's just me- other people like the cold- go figure). That alone did not endear me to this book. In fact, it took me 2 weeks to read the first 200 pages - and a day to finish the last 100.

It's one of those books that captures you in the beginning with it's intriguing plot, wraps it's word arms around you and leaves you with a longing to know more once it's over.
For one, LeGuin is a brilliant writer. I mean, seriously. Word smith, wonder woman. She crafts a world and people that are familiar enough to relate to and unknown enough to fascinate.
Secondly, the plot was intriguing (I have mentioned that my 7th grade English teacher read us The Marian Chronicles every day, haven't I? Fond memories of other worlds)! So, in a nutshell, it's a member of the Ecumenen going to form an alliance with the peoples of Winter. They are humanoid, but....
Thirdly, the theme was fascinating. The humanoids are androgynous, and are only sexual a few days a month. A fascinating look at sexuality, gender issues, and humanity. This is something we've actually spent a fair bit of time thinking about in our home, as we've given a few talks to parents and counselors and others on "Gender Matters." Gender is, in our world, the only thing we come born with. The recent decision by the Girl Scouts of CO to admit a boy into a troop, despite obvious evidence to the contrary, is a cautionary tale that post-modernism seeks to destroy something fundamental to every single one of us.
Fourth, have I mentioned that LeGuin is a master craftswoman?

This book would make a great addition to a class for high schoolers on Human Development or fantasy lit. An excellent read and a new favorite author!

Falling Rocks

Paradox: a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth

Today's writing class is gonna be fun : )

Check out my post on How to be Thankful in an Era of Entitlement at the HSV.