A Cause, Just Because

Today I realized what my Cause could be. Women’s rights are important, and close to home, of course. Really, what makes me want to Write Letters and Carry Protest Signs, however, is this:
I believe we ought to get rid of the current government and institute a theocracy.

Since there is only one true God, it’s obvious Who would be in charge. You may think Sophia (Buddha, Allah, Vishnu, whomever) is as much a God as God, but (s)he’s not.

Revelation tells me He’s coming back to rule anyway, why not hasten the Day?

Monday Melee- a Retreat to the Past

It’s been a week since I posted- I’ve been living through a hurricane, thank you.
Rootie’s visit was supremely superb. She is 10 times better in person, and that’s saying a lot. What an amazing woman!

Since this blog is to sort out emotional fallout from a hurricane-esque week, I’m regrouping via the Monday Melee, and via my favorite “time vacation”: Ancient Rome (with occasional borrowings from Ancient Greece). These are true responses on my part, and also true for the Roman Empire. Sound familiar? Hmm, maybe what happened to Rome is about to happen to us?

Check it out at http://fracas.wordpress.com !!

The Misanthropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate. Food that is easily available in the shopping centers is almost always deep-fried and has no nutritional value. But we buy it anyway, in large quantities, so greedy restaurant owners aren’t going to change the menu to inexpensive food that IS nutritious.

The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent, or bogus. The folks in the Capitol are being served off gold plates whilst the troops chew smoked meat scraps in nasty hot places like Afghanistan. The government that is supposed to protect us is living too high on the hog!

The Malcontent: Name something you are unhappy with. The rising costs of transporting Everything, from people on vacations to postage to fruit. It makes the summer boring.

The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can. My best friend (Rootie- not that she’s been around ince Ancient Rome!), who needed someone to talk to, but listened instead. A better friend has not been seen since Pythias.

The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it. I can cry again.

The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for. To get a call today saying, “We want to hire Mr. Wonderful for two years at a great salary in a job he loves. The contract is on its way.”

Now I think I’m going to take a bath, wrap up in something lightweight, and listen to some harp music. Call me in 2,000 years.

The Monday Melee

Check it out at http://fracas.wordpress.com !!

The Misanthropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate. Fashion. I feel comfortable in capris and tunics or sleeveless Ts in the summer, and in winter and dressy occasions nothing beats a 12th century dress, ankle boots, and a fur-lined cape for comfort and beauty. Try wearing that to Parent-Teacher conferences or the Sunday School Picnic, though. And didn’t we burn all the bras 40 years ago? What goofball made more?

The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent, or bogus. Jimmy Carter. Badmouthing your successor is Not Done, dear.

The Malcontent: Name something you are unhappy with. I can’t find Rootie’s copy of Gladiator, either.

The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can. Mr. Wonderful, who did not whine, complain, or indulge in self-pity when Puerto Rico turned us down.

The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it. I make great egg rolls.

The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for. I wish we could easily and cheaply get the exhaust problem in the van fixed so the “check engine” light would turn off. It makes me nervous.

Perspective

It occurs to me that this summer marks my 25th High School reunion. I almost wish I had made it out to the graduation ceremony for my own students last weekend.

The school in Puerto Rico says they cannot afford us this year. We are disappointed to not be moving, but relieved to hear a definite answer at last.

We don’t know where we will be living or where Mr.Wonderful will be working next fall. God knows. God has known for thousands and thousands of years. He won’t hide it from us, either- He’s just waiting for the perfect moment to give us the gift. (I always compare it, when helping my kids be patient, to a birthday cake. Who wants a half-cooked birthday cake?)

The good news is that I get to continue homeschooling. I am already looking forward to starting up again!

There are so many good ways to spend time. I’m making a dinner and a breakfast (Nobody remembers to send breakfasts to the homebound!) for a friend with a broken foot. Since she has 4 teenage daughters, I do not feel guilty in sending unfried grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, and chips- those 4 daughters don’t get much chance to cook, but not one of them has a broken foot, so they can easily stand at the stove and grill those sandwiches. (Yes, I joined the “Mean Mommy Club” last month!)

My youngest is turning 7 next weekend. We are having some friends over, including my best friend of 23 years, who is staying the whole weekend-hooray! Finishing the touch-up paint has moved up on the priority list! (Spackle makes the walls look like they have chicken pox, didnchaknow?) The dentist discovered a small cavity today, so my youngest’s first present will be a filling! (Better than #2, whom we today discovered has strep again.)

We are also having a couple (missionaries) stay overnight Saturday whom we haven’t seen in almost 7 years. Must check the air matress and vacuum the spare bedroom a bit better!

Sunday, after the birthday party, (by God’s grace, all the supplies are bought and the cake ordered) our Home Group (we meet Sunday nights to discuss the sermon) is having a cook-out. I saw a package of “Superdogs” whilst waiting for the anti-strep medicine. Those (chicken) hot dogs are huge! Won’t that be fun to grill!

We have good doctors, good kids, good friends, good food, good works and good times ahead. We have the unfailing love of an all-powerful, all-wise God, and a Savior, Jesus Christ. What a glorious day!

Nexus

The 5 people who live in my house are not a typical family. (Like there is such a thing.) One of “our own” words is “nexus”. Nope, not the hair stuff. The “crossroads” thing.

There are times when the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and mental lives all hit 90-degree turns simultaneously. For example, the week we moved up here from Florida, we got a surprise refund on the electric bill that exactly paid for the moving truck, my mom (who lived around the corner) got a call from a sister in Pennsylvania who needed her (no sad good-byes to dwell on), and a couple of drugs dealers were found shot in front of our apartment. No, Rootie, it wasn’t me. No, that wasn’t “normal” for our neighborhood. Pretty obvious that it was time to move, no?

Sometimes we see the nexus coming but a week or two, sometimes by a day or two. Today one snuck up on us. A nexus is never truly dangerous to our family, it’s just a rollercoaster ride where we can almost see the guardian angels around us.

Mr.Wonderful had to stop a fistfight between a couple of football players today. He’s never had to step between two fighters before, ever.

The van’s engine light went on a mile from our house as I was heading to the last day of classes at the co-op. Since my sister has burned out an engine by ignoring that light, I turned around and made phone calls instead of continuing.

Worst cramps in 3 or 4 months today. Since I’ve had kids, they never last more than a day anymore, thank God.

We have a food pickup tomorrow. I happened to be home to get the phone call from one of the pickup ladies. She can’t lift boxes, but has a running vehicle. If I had gone to class, I would’ve missed the chance to coordinate my ability to lift and non-running vehicle with her situation.

I also got a phone call (for the first time in 6 months) from the couple who were my closest friends the 14 years I lived in Florida. It was an hour I would normally be in class.

We got a message from the school in Augusta. They want to talk with me tonight about teaching math. (Where’s PR to break in and save me?)

Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Hands off the controls, please. Auto-pilot is MUCH safer.

It’s Not Monday, But…

I MUST correct this week’s Melee.
Expose the fraudulent, bogus or phoney: Me. For commenting on people’s blogs as if I know anything. How can I know anything, when I can’t even see that the same little boy I spanked yesterday (for disobedience whilst sweeping the bathroom) would buy me a “Laser-Light Ring” with his very own savings, wrap it in a piece of plain white copy paper from the computer printer, and shyly tell me “Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. This is your surprise” today?

I don’t know jack.

Million Dollar Idea #4,523

We bought brake lights tonight after a nice officer pulled me over and gave me a written warning. (Who knew?) I began to wonder:

If StuffMart has a catalog that lists make, model, year, and then tells you what kind of brake light to buy, why can’t they do that with women’s jeans? I bought 2 pair of capris in the 10 minutes I had in StuffMart (before the kiddos started playing with the vases in Housewares), which fit my legs and hips *very* nicely, but fall off my waist.

Why can’t there be a catalog (preferably on the Net!) that lists waist, hips, thigh, length of pants, and your age, so a woman can just say, “Hey! I need to get my capris at Target, not StuffMart!”)??

It’s Monday! Time to Melee!!

Check it out at http://fracas.wordpress.com !!

The Misanthropic: Name something (about humanity) you absolutely hate. The planet is 3/4 liquid, but we in richer countries haven’t gotten potable water set up in poorer countries yet.

The Meretricious: Expose something or someone that’s phony, fraudulent, or bogus. The library in this town charges 25 cents per day overdue fines. Everywhere else in the state, literally, it’s 5-10 cents per day.

The Malcontent: Name something you are unhappy with. My double chin. I used to have a face with a shape. Now I’m The Blob.

The Meritorious: Give someone credit for something and name it if you can. Mr. Wonderful, who filled my plate at the buffet on Mom’s Day whilst I enjoyed the kiddos at the table.

The Mirror: See something good about yourself and name it. I don’t sweat the small stuff.

The Make-Believe: Name something you wish for. To get a call today from PR saying, “We want you both. Name your classes. We have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath for $500 per month ready for you. We’ll pay $1000 to move you.” (Or is that 4 wishes?)

What’s so bad about a Meme?

Here are the rules:
A certain Gentleman of Distinction has tagged me to do a meme. I’m new enough to blogging to have neither a credible way nor a humble enough spirit to duck. Here it is:

* Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about him/herself.

* People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

* At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

* Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

If you would like to be — or at least tolerate being — tagged yourself, please leave me a comment.

1. OK, no one is going to believe this, but I have seen Jesus. I was a new Christian, beggin Him to show Himself to me (as if that would make all my problems, both in the then-present and now-future, go away) in prayer. I fell asleep, and had a vision. He didn’t answer all my questions- in fact none- but He told me the answers are in the Bible. I’ve studied it for about 15 years since, and they are.

2. Mr.Wonderful claims I have an almost-unique (shared only by my sister) way of making friends: I set off a nuclear explosion, and whoever survives the fallout is worthy of my loyalty and affection.

3. My hobbies go in (no, not monthly) cycles: I’ll play games for a couple of months, then sew, then read, then knit, then bake, then do puzzles, and so on in random order for at least 6 weeks but less than 3 months at a time. Right now I’m moving quickly toward devouring every Peter Wimsey mystery the library can dig up.

4. One of the reasons I’m especially hoping we get the job in Puerto Rico is that I believe the US is going to quickly become a progressively violent, dangerous place to live, a la “V”. I sincerely hope my family can move from PR to somewhere in South America and disappear from all computers in about 5 years. It’s ancient Rome, and the corrupt emperors, followed by the Visgoths, are coming, folks.

5. I’m ticklish in exactly one spot, and only Mr.Wonderful is likely to touch it anytime soon.

6. Before kids, I loved to daydream about traveling. Now, about all I’d like to visit is the temple at Cumae (Italy). The story from the Aeneid about Daedelus having to stop carving when he is half-finished Icarus’ fall into the sea get me teary every time. I’d like to see if it’s true.

7. We (involuntarily) have a mouse living in the kitchen. Mr. Wonderful just found an entire kitchen towel pulled under the dishwasher into the nest. Now I know why the dishwasher has been leaking.

8. I’m not going to tag anybody unless they ask for it. I’m just a rebel about some things.

Quandry #2

Warning: Blog flatulence may be impending. It is involuntary. The following should be read in a tone of innocent curiosity, not animosity, please.

I’m so predictable. Right after Hate Mode, my brain starts to shut down. So I cannot seem to wrap my head around this newly-admitted loathing for housework.

I live in the Bible Belt. Not just the South, but a community where traditions carry the onus of “righteousness” or “damnable” (which are translated “Biblical” and “non-Biblical” in Christianese, a language which deserves its own later post.)
Overall, I enjoy the community, and see myself and my kids becoming better people because of our rubs with the community.

However, we are about to clash over the housework thing. So far as I am able to grasp in my semi-intellectual state, the facts are as these:
1. We must have a terribly clean house if we are to sell it at a tidy profit.
2. I have successfully avoided the extremes of cleaning for a month and would happily continue to do so if not for fact #1.
3. I have several marketable skills, which could earn me enough to hire a cleaning crew after marketing them for 40 hours per week.
4. Women with small children should be home when their kids are home.

Facts 3 and 4 seem to contradict each other, as do facts 1 and 2.

Side issues: Obviously I am passing my loathing of cleaning along to my kiddos. Every woman in Mr.W’s family loves cleaning. It’s a little late in the school year to begin marketing my teaching skills. The money needs to be in to sell the house by mid-July.

Dream Solution #1: The kids, who have been half-trained in routine household chores, actually show initiative and strong work ethic, and do those chores without nagging or supervision on my part. This leaves me physically and emotionally free to focus on extreme cleaning. Mr.W actually works within a reasonable budget (“Whattaya mean, a cell phone (let alone 2) is a want, not a need?” “Look, I’m a big guy. I need to snack on all this bologna you are saving for lunch tomorrow for you and the 3 kids.”) which frees me to purchase touch-up paint, rollers, trays, etc.

Deep breath. We are not going any further into Mr.W problems.

Yes, I am aware that one BIG reason the kids don’t show initiative and strong work ethic regarding household chores is because I don’t show it.

Any ideas?