So...I took a picture of the cardboard jungle that is my bedroom....but I can't find my cord to upload it to my computer. So by the time I actually have it online, it will probably be outdated. Instead, in this post, I will include a months old picture showing how glad Jonathan and Crystal were to have me living with them.

See below.



Feel the love.

Anyway, moving went well, but unpacking stinks. It's hard to unpack and continue with life at the same time. I mean, my day was already pretty full between working, homeschooling and occasionally sleeping. Where do I fit in the hours needed to get all this stuff I haven't seen in 5 years sorted and put away? Well, I haven't found hours yet. Just minutes daily. Every little bit helps, but the chaos is getting old.

You know...it's much easier to start a blog post than it is to come up with a nice pithy ending for it. I'm pretty much done for tonight.

More moving day!

I now have a key to an apartment! Yea! Although my happiness is dampened somewhat by the amount of money I had to part with to get said key. Living with relatives will spoil you. Ok...off to scarf some lunch and pack up a few odds and ends. I think I'm actually going to end up with quite a few pieces of furniture. I'll try to take pics sometime.

Moving Day!

In honor of moving day I want to post a tidbit of an article on a completely unrelated subject...parenting.

And just a few weeks ago, everyone was talking (mostly approvingly) about the N.Y. Times feature on a Chicago coffee shop owner who'd posted signs warning that customers' small children were expected to use "indoor voices" and refrain from running around banging into things.

Predictably, some shocked parents are now boycotting the shop. (The money quote from one: "What are we supposed to do, not enjoy ourselves at a café?" Yes, yes! If you can't control your kids, that's exactly what you're supposed to do!) Not so predictably, there was an outpouring of support for the coffee shop owner on the Times letters page a few days later, with one suggesting he be nominated for the Nobel Prize.

I thought that was beautiful. Here's the whole thing.

Ok...so I'm mooching off of Dr. M again. But I really like a lot of what she says including this bit on so-called "Christian rock."

I just wanted to post this from a blog I read sometimes.

T minus 9 hrs and counting...

until we leave for the Ben Folds concert. I've never been to a concert before...well that's not exactly true. I've been to symphony concerts before. So I guess I've basically never been to a concert with lyrics before. And I'm hoping that Ben sticks to his "appropriate for all ages" show tonight, as advertised, since we're taking the boys. Other than that slight trepidation, I'm really excited!

Wow! Look at me! Blogging two times in the same week! Yeah...that's all I wanted to say.

Ok. Not really.

I got the apartment! Yea! I am homeless no more. Of course I have no furniture, but who needs furniture? I have three computers. I'm sure William and I can sleep on one of them. :) Actually, I already have offers of furniture cast-offs pouring in. At least from Crystal. :) I'm just looking forward to having a space in which to unpack all of those boxes I haven't opened for four years. I'm sure I'll find some wonderful things in there that I missed a lot without knowing it. And I'm looking forward to doing some interior decorating...with a cardboard box motif until I get furniture. And I'm looking forward to getting up at an ungodly hour like I normally do, and turning on all the lights! Yes. I am not looking forward to getting all my bookshelves and boxes upon boxes of books up three flights of stairs. But I am looking forward to unpacking those books. See there's something I've definitely missed! William's looking forward to unpacking his toys. Oh...yeah. And being the ultimate authority when controversies arise over the remote. That'll be good too. I think this list could go on indefinitely. I'm very grateful to all the family who've roomed and boarded me over the past 4 1/2 years, but I'm also very grateful to have a place to call my own. As of December 11th. Yea!

So...it's been a month since the Feast. Or at least, there's a full moon tonight. I really had an awesome Feast in every way. It was one of my best, without a doubt and I came home really recharged and ready to go. Then I started having to deal with all the stuff that was waiting for me...ugh. Not fun. But oh well. That's life.

William and I are in the midst of apartment hunting. Hopefully, we're actually nearer the end of apartment hunting. There's really only one place in this area that's nice, so we put in an application there and it's like trying to get into Harvard! Today I had to go get a statement (if you can call 2 sentences saying in a nutshell, "I work. Honest." a statement) notarized. And the goofy apartment nazi kept saying they needed this as proof of my income and that when I got my tax return they'd need that too to collaborate what my "affadavit" said. Collaborate. Yeah. But I bit my tongue and jumped through the hoop and hopefully will now get this apartment.

Also new since the Feast is the homeschool curriculum we started. We're really loving it. For one thing, it takes less time than what we were doing before the Feast. For another, it's got a really detailed schedule and instructor's guide...basically an in depth lesson plan for every day that I don't have to make up myself. And for another thing, it covers more subjects. Science is definitely William's favorite. We already have done 4 experiments and it's only our 6th day of classes. How cool is that? Way. (Hi Jonathan!)

(My son is laying here in bed singing, "Most people in Africa have no food." Hmm. Did I mention we're studying Africa in geography right now?)

Since we got back we've been running too. I love running. It's the easiest way to exercise ever. The running itself isn't easy, but the preparation is nothing and you can do it whenever and you can make your kid run with you so you don't have to worry about childcare. :) Actually, William and I walk to the park, where they have a track. I make him jog/walk with me (alternating in 1 minute intervals) for 15 minutes, then he can go play while I jog/walk for 15 more minutes. We've been doing 2 miles that way and today I just ran the whole last 15 minutes, and it felt super. I love that my knee doesn't hurt when I use it anymore. It's such a relief to be whole again.

On than note....I'm going to do some yoga and get some sleep.

I know I should blog...

but I don't want to. I'm tired and irritable. I want to go back to Canmore.

I'll blog after Ryan does. :D

I'm finding reading the news pretty interesting these days, which is a new development for me. I think there are two main contributing factors for this phenomonon:

1. Bloglines is really cool.
2. Stuff's happening.

Take this article about internet controls. Having just written a series of knowledge base articles on DNS, this was particularly interesting to me. And then there's this one about the WTO. I especially like the part in that one (it's written from the EU's perspective) where "the European Commission...is still hopeful of reaching an agreement with global trade partners despite obstacles from the US." It just seems to me that the EU is increasingly setting itself in opposition to and competition with the US. And not a "friendly game of horse in the driveway" competition. This is a "Cain vs Abel" kind of competition--the kind that's fueled by a deap-seated hatred.

The EU still has a long way to go. It's government is a messy, very unwieldy bureaucracy. Right now it's mainly about economics. But now some of the leadership is starting to push for more political unity as well. First economy, then government to direct the economy, next is a military force to defend the government. This article shows that the groundwork is already being laid for "battle groups" acting "in the EU's name." Still a long way to go, but it's on its way up. And the US is on its way down.

It all makes for some interesting reading over my morning oatmeal, which has gotten cold while I typed all this.

William quotes...

I was tucking William in last night. Getting him to bed can be such a pain sometimes. So last night I just lay in bed with him until he fell asleep. Before he did, we had the following conversation:

William: (stretching arms out) Can we hug each other while we sleep?
Me: (how can I say no to that) Sure. (big hug) It's too bad we have to get up early tomorrow so you can go to daycare and I can go to the office.
William: You're just picking on me about daycare.
Me: No. I'm teasing you. You aren't going to daycare and I'm not going to the office. And you wouldn't even be in daycare anymore, you'd be in kindergarten. But we do kindergarten at the kitchen table. How cool is that? What a blessing!
William: That's the bestest blessing I ever had!

Then this morning, as usual, his mouth woke up before his brain. Yesterday he'd been playing with his chess set and he lost one of the black pawns. The first words out of his mouth as he stumbled into the livingroom this morning were:

William: I'm gonna see if that tricky pawn is back in it's box. That tricky pawn that was missing.
Me: You think it crawled back in the box?
William: I think it grew legs and walked away yesterday and crawled back in the box while we were sleeping.

If IQ stood for Imagination Quotient, he'd be off the charts. :)

I had a tiny epiphany this evening. We had just finished having delicious grilled bacon cheeseburgers. The boys were giggling in the bedroom where they have created a castle with all kinds of secret passageways out of some boxes. Crystal and Jonathan were talking smack to each other at the the iMac. I was playing some David Lanz on the piano. And the thought occurred to me that with everything that's going on, I really need to enjoy these moments. The simple pleasures of life. Family, music, good food. How many of our brethren tonight are eating fast food and spending their Sabbath in a hotel, hoping that they'll have a house to go back to next week? How much longer before there isn't enough food, and we can't feel safe in our own houses? It's very exciting, and yet very sobering to see how prophecy is speeding up. All of my life I've heard of what is to come, but I guess I got kind of numb to the reality of it. We're not in the tribulation yet, but every day more of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. I really need to redeem the time--to prepare for Christ's return, to finish the Work, to raise a Godly son and just to enjoy the abundant life that God has blessed me with.

Dueling bloggers...

Crystal is currently trying to blog (on her new iMac, big whoopdedoo), but is being slowed down by spell-checking which I skip. So I'm typing furiously...because I'm inherently competitive. And here's a contest. Of course she doesn't know we're racing, so it's not really fair. But competitiveness isn't about fairness, now is it?

My favorite recent quotes:

William: Mom, I saw Copper's pee-pee system. (Copper's got a bit of a problem keeping his plumbing where it belongs. Crystal says this means he's happy. Go figure.)

Me: William, do you need to ask Jarek to slice your buns off? That's not very nice, is it?

Me: What do you guys play with the legos?
William: You are so stinky and selfish!
Jarek: And then we hit them with a toy.
William: Then we beat them up.
Crystal: Can we really hit girls?
Jarek: No. Just lego girls.
Both boys: Let's go beat the girls up. (something tells me I shouldn't be laughing at this....)

Drat...Crystal beat me.

I guess I can stop now then.

Warning: Long, boring post ahead.

In keeping with the title of my blog, I should probably give some news from time to time. The thing about news is that it's really about perceptions. And perceptions are about emotions and reactions and how I really feel and all that good stuff I try my best to keep from public view. Not that this blog is that publicly viewed (hi Crystal and Jonathan). But still...I tried keeping a diary-type blog in which to vent and say what I really feel in the honest belief that no one else could see it, but I didn't actually set it up right, and Jonathan and Crystal enjoyed it immensely, but I felt really bad. I mean, I named names and wrote all the things that were in my head but really shouldn't have been...and then put it on a blog (yeah...I'm a genius). While I admire Charles' ability to completely bare his soul on his blog, however infrequently, I'm afraid of the repercussions of saying what I really think about people...you know...on the off chance that someone cares. That said...

My life's been no bed of roses for the past 5 years or so. Being a single parent is no fun. I discovered that, contrary to what it may have seemed like when I was in college, there are much worse things than being single and having no prospect of changing that. For example, being in a bad marriage....much worse. And raising a kid on your own is no picnic. My family is so helpful, that's true, but when it all comes down to it, it's on me. The absolute worst thing is not being able to be there for him. I'm so thankful for my mom and my sister and the times that they've kept him while I work. But I also hate that, during those times, they have been the "mommy" figure in his life, and I've been more of a daddy. Having a wonderful, loving, imaginative little boy, and then only getting to spend 3 hrs a day with him...and spending those 3 hrs feeding him breakfast, getting him dressed, feeding him dinner, bathing him and putting him to bed...is torture. So I've kind of felt like I've been in the twilight zone for several years. I went from having my whole future out in front of me and having a plan for my life, to just basically surviving from day to day. And living with my family, which basically makes me feel like a loser. And having no idea what to do next and how to fix the whole mess.

And that's why I'm so excited right now. I'm still living with family, but I have HOPE of maybe actually someday being an adult...having a house, and a car and taking care of my son without impersonating a sponge. Basically the biggest news in the life of me and William is that we are so happy and thankful right now. I'm working from home and homeschooling and getting to spend so much time with William! He's such a cool kid (ok...so he also has some infuriatingly annoying habits) and it's a huge blessing not to drop him off with anyone. I'm actually the one raising him right now...not a daycare, not my sister, not my mother...I love it. So does William. :P I don't actually have full-time work at this point, but having been fully unemployed before, being partially employed is not so bad. I still have to sponge, but I can also buy new underwear without borrowing money. And there are prospects. For the first time since William and I struck out on our own, I can see how I could make a living from home. When I found out we were moving from Charlotte, I made the determination that I was going to be a mommy first and a breadwinner second. And I'm leaving the breadwinning in God's hands. I'm asking him to provide me with a way to provide for William and myself from home. And I believe that He will.

Newsflash--Right now, life is GOOD!

Michelle says:
I'm chanting silently to myself "OpenOffice is not the devil, OpenOffice is not the devil"
Michelle says:
but it's not working
Michelle says:
how do I change the font color
Michelle says:
it suddenly decided that I should type in maroon
cbelle says:
lol
cbelle says:
maybe you should
Michelle says:
and now it won't let me go back to black
cbelle says:
open office is not the devil
Michelle says:
I see the button that in NORMAL word processors provides you with a pallet to choose from
Michelle says:
but in this one (the devil word processor, that is) it only provides you with the means to make other random chunks of your text a hideous color
cbelle saysa:
well- mine is on the Tool Bar
cbelle says:
well- there's got to be a way to put it up on your tool bar, too
cbelle says:
i'll look around
Michelle says:
I have the A on my tool bar
Michelle says:
but when I click on it it says "Font Color"
Michelle says:
and that's it
cbelle says:
?
cbelle says:
do you have an old version or something?
Michelle says:
it doesn't give me colors to choose from
Michelle says:
I would hope not, since I only downloaded it last week
cbelle says:
oh
cbelle says:
click on it & kinda drag down at the same time
Michelle says:
great
Michelle says:
now I turned it blue
cbelle says:
click on the arrow right beside it
cbelle says:
and drag down a hair
Michelle says:
ok...the draggy thing worked
cbelle says:
good
cbelle says:
anything else?
Michelle says:
yes
Michelle says:
one more thing
Michelle says:
Open Office is the devil
cbelle says:
NO IT'S NOT
Michelle says:
good and evil mixed you know...it's free, but it sucks
cbelle says:
you just don't like it b/c it looks different
Michelle says:
no...I don't like it b/c it doesn't do what I want it to do
Michelle says:
for example...it keeps bulleting everything
cbelle says:
you have to be SMARTER than the program
Michelle says:
and it won't stop
Michelle says:
see...that's the thing
Michelle says:
I don't want to be smarter than the program...I want it to be smarter than me so I don't have work so hard.
Michelle says:
If I wanted to be smarter than the program, I'd use a typewriter.

Computers...modern miracle or mental health menace? You decide.

So, I bought a nice new laptop with my tax return this year in hopes of someday using it to make a living from home. Now that I'm actually in the position of making a living from home using said laptop...it's NOT WORKING!!! Well, it's mostly working. The wireless internet part of it isn't working. Which means I'm on a leash in this little front room, while all the fun exciting things are happening in the back of the house.



I guess I should be thankful that at least my monitor is working, which is more than Jonathan can say. And I can still work...which is good. So basically I'm just being a big baby. But really, is it too much to ask that a $2000 piece of technology be fully functional for longer than 6 months after the date of purchase???

End of whine.

All about moving...

Not.

I'm tired of moving. So I don't want to talk about it. I want to talk about football. The original football. What we yanks call soccer. On Sunday I was lamenting to myself the lack of people I know who'll talk soccer with me. Then I figured since I was already talking to myself, I might as well talk to myself about soccer.

With the World Cup coming up next summer in Germany, there's lots happening with US soccer. So far so good with qualifying. We're pretty much a lock to qualify. Next up is Mexico, the only team that's beaten us so far in qualifying...but that was in Mexico and this game is in the US of A. Different story. (I hope.) One of the really cool things happening in US soccer is the re-imemergence of Bobby Convey. He was the Freddy Adu before Freddy Adu. He went pro at 16 (also drafted by DC United, ironically enough), but at that time, no one cared. For one thing, he didn't bring down nearly the salary Freddy got as of last year.

Anyway...last year Bobby got transferred to an English team that is competing for promotion to the premiership. He did absolutely abysmally there. Just rotten. He had a hamstring injury when the move happened, and then he got a few national team call-ups, and just never got into the swing of things over there. But this spring, he was able to do the full pre-season in Reading and it has made all the difference in the world. His confidence is back. His speed is back. He's crossing like a magician and he's got his scoring touch back as of 2 goals this past weekend. This is good news because Convey is a natural left-footed player, so he provides a balance to their attack. Lately we've been kind of in a down the center rut on offense because Landon Donovan's playing in the middle. He's been having a great year, but really needs support when the world cup comes.

Oh and Taylor Twellman and Clint Dempsey are a couple of good additions to the national team camp. Twellman is money in front of the goal. He's a little bitty guy, but he out-jumps, out-hustles, out-works the defenders and makes some really awesome goals. Dempsey's called the Texas Tornado (he's from Nacogdoches) and it's a really appropriate nickname. He's everwhere. He's fearless. And he's dangerous. He'll get the ball or die trying...or kill trying...doesn't really matter to him. Last year he got his jaw broken when he dived to head a ball at the same time someone went to kick the ball. He stayed in the game. He played the next game a week later. It wasn't until 12 days later when they even found out his jaw was broken. Then he missed a lot of time, but still came back and produced enough to when the rookie of the year award.

So...American soccer is pretty exciting right now. Sadly, I'm the only person I know who cares.

William said...

Every Friday night I allow William to sleep all night in my bed. This is a big deal for him, since he wants to sleep in my bed all night every night. He calls this tradition "Sabbath night snuggles." Tonight my dad told him, "There's a new rule in this house. From now on there will be no more snuggling on Sabbath nights." William came running to me with a scandalized and worried look on his face. I said, "Can Papa do that?!?" William went running back to Papa, placed his fists on his hips and said, "You can't make that rule! You're not in charge of our snuggles!" :p The boy likes his snuggles....

--------------------

William: Girls scream and boys don't.
Me: Yep. What do boys do?
William: Pretend they're dinosaurs.

Ok....so long time, no blog. But really, what's to blog. I'm really tired and busy and I'm getting ready to move. Now you're officially updated.

More Solomon gems...

While bringing Oreos, Mint Oreos, Mint Milanos and other assorted cookies and candies into the livingroom to eat while watching Wimbledon:

Charles: Now Andy Roddick has to win. Otherwise we'll be fat AND sad.

(He lost. Badly.)

--------------

The commentator gem: Watch that replay. Most of us humans struggle mightily to control our limbs, trunk and torso, but Federer is the very picture of synchronicity.

(I think he'd been saving that word ever since he covered the national spelling bee 2 months ago.)