At the moment I'm commenting in one journal and posting in another, which is kind of silly...but not all my friends switched over to me_as_mom so my complete friends list is here. 

However, from now on I'd like to just use the me_as_mom journal, so friend me over there so I can keep up to you.  I might use this one once in awhile, but that will be my main journal.

I decided to start a new, more focused journal - me_as_mom - to talk about mom stuff.  You're all welcome to friend it! :)

Jepthah's Daughter. - M.L.

All the things that I must leave are good
because you made them. In those first new days
when nothing was something was and the stars were glad
and matter blazed into a song of praise
you what you had made and called it good.

So why must I turn now from all these things?
Take leave of taste and sound and scent and sight?
I do not understand such alterings,
my father's promise made to bring me night.
El, let me feel the touch of angel's wings!

Farewell, farewell, though you do not forget
you made and called them good, all these that I
must leave.  In a fair fragrant garden plot
did we betray what you had done, so die
because we turned away and thus forgot?

So we forget again and yet again,
born with decay like marrow in our bones.
Is honorable death done for your gain?
How can we all be what we were once?
How can we wash away the mortal stain?

Farewell, O desert sand and burning sun.
farewell, O wondrous sound of wind and song,
farewell, O living taste of bread and wine,
and touch of hand to hand within the throng.
Farewell to all I thought was mine.

Farewell to everything I thought was me
that I may know what these were meant to be.

- From Cry Like A Bell
Madeleine L'Engle, 1918- September 6, 2007

Amy has been singing something like "Tacho Heart Man Whoooooweeee..." for months and I've been completely baffled about where she got it.  But the other day David told me what it was - it's one of the songs he's practicing for church. I bolded the line she apparently seems to like:

We have raised a thousand voices
Just to lift Your holy name
And we will raise thousands more
To sing of Your beauty in this place
Well none can even fathom
No not one define Your worth
As we marvel in Your presence
To the ends of the earth.

We give You glory,
Lifting up our hands and singing holy,
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart, Lord, touch Your heart
Glory, lifting up our voice and singing holy,
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart, Lord, touch Your heart

As we fall down before You
With our willing hearts we seek
In the greatness of Your glory
It's so hard to even speak
There is nothing we can offer
No nothing can repay
So we give You all our praises
And lift our voice to sing

We give You glory,
Lifting up our hands and singing holy,
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart, Lord, touch Your heart
Glory, lifting up our voice and singing holy,
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart, Lord, touch Your heart

Our hope is drenched in You
Our faith has been renewed
We trust in Your every word
Nothing else can even measure up to You.

We give You glory,
Lifting up our hands and singing holy,
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart, Lord, touch Your heart
Glory, lifting up our voice and singing holy,
You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your heart, Lord, touch Your heart

So that explains it. :)

Health Care.

Today two people on my friend's list had rants about insurance and health care, (one philosophical and one personal) and just yesterday I got a benefits statement from my insurance company, and coverage aside, reading it made about as much sense as some of Amy's artwork.

So after I spent a little while stewing in how frustrated I am with the whole system (especially pinched over how I can't go back to the midwifes clinic that delivered Kate because my new insurance won't cover them) I came to the following conclusion...

Isn't it great about how GOD ultimately provides for us...for ALL our needs?  Not our insurance company, not the government, not even our paychecks, but somehow someway, our Father will make sure things get taken care of? Even when things are looking dire,  "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  (Good ole Romans 8:28)

And I know I've posted this verse before, but it's a goodie...in the words of Jesus himself...

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

 

^{Matthew 6:25-34}

I think I may have found a housekeeping routine that actually works for me.  I'm less than a week into it, but I think it might help me get on top of things around here. 

I just know that right now I've finished everything I set out to do, my house isn't trashed (isn't immaculate, but sanitary and presentable) and I have an hour to kill before it's time to start dinner...which is planned, complete with a scratch Jamaican Jerk rub already mixed and the chicken defrosting.

It's a bit surreal.  I even took a minute to go outside and plant another square of swiss chard, since July heat has nuked my lettuce, but the chard bounced right back after the 100 degree spell.  But like I said, it's only 3 days...but with this plan, things will get easier.  Well, as long as I stick with it.

Do you think I could freeze Pedalyte?

I opened a bottle of it for Amy last night when she started to get a little heatsick, but she didn't drink much of it and I'd hate to throw it away, but it only keeps for 48 hours in the fridge.  And it would be nice to have some on hand so I wouldn't have to make a run to the store next time a kid gets sick...but I don't know if freezing it would nuke all the stuff that makes it useful in the first place.

http://www.katu.com/news/entertainment/8381247.html

Since I've been filling my livejournal full of secret geek confessions, I'll admit that I followed the Paris Hilton drama...because the little bit of journalist left in me was interested in how it would be approached and covered, and in the reactions from the audience.

I think this was some sort of milestone for modern media. It was all over the place when she was sentenced and then let out and then let back in, but when she was released...nothing.  I thought it was because I've been busy and not reading the news as much, but a few days after her release I looked around the BBC webpage (she was the lead story when she got arrested) to see what came up.... not a single word on Paris Hilton. 

In the grocery store she's on the cover of People, but didn't get a single headline on any of the other magazines or tabloids.  Tom Cuise's baby's $17,000 pacifier made it, but not Paris.  In fact, one even had a bubble in the corner that said "100% Paris Free!"   Now the People cover makes sense, because it's a magazine about, well, people, and a socialite going from living with every luxury to spending 23 days in jail can be an interesting human interest piece (hey, I'd read it)...but should it really be taking up more space in the headlines than wars and huge changes in government leadership? 

Thankfully, someone finally said "enough."  And the fact that she's not in the tabloids is very interesting...they're obviously solely concerned with selling papers, so I think it's safe to come to the conclusion that Paris wasn't selling.

But Suri's binky is.  See...I know the name of Tom Cruise's baby, but I can't remember who George Bush just hired to replace...uh...some important person who just quit an important position.  Maybe I should go back to my daily BBC surfing.

I have seen Almost Famous so many times that I could probably write out the screenplay without turning on the movie.  Therefore, I've been indoctrinated to break into song every time I hear the chorus of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."

If you've seen this flick you know exactly what I mean.
Yesterday "Tiny Dancer" was playing when I walked into the Dollar Tree.  Of course, my knee-jerk reaction was to sing right along...but I was in the Dollar Tree, alone.  I'm already the crazy lady who mumbles to herself in the grocery store; I don't need to be the nutcase who sings Elton John songs in the Dollar Tree.  (Now if bestobreezy was with me, I'm sure we would have had a delightful duet, even with the onlookers.)**

Naturally once I got in the car I broke into an acappela  rendition of the song to get it out of my system, and I realized that I don't even know all the words if I don't have Kate Hudson prompting me.  My version went something like...

"HO-O-O-O-LD  ME CLO-O-O-SER Tiny Dancer....
Count the headlights on the hi-i-i-way...
Maybe darlin' she's so splendid*...
Had to [mumble a little here to fill in the words I don't know] from day to daaaaaaaaaaaaay..."

*Not sure those are the right words...

Today I think I'll have an Elton John marathon while I'm being useful, complete with singing.  I'm sure Amy & Kate will enjoy it, too.

** Bre, if David and I make it to England, can we all sing Tiny Dancer on a bus?  Not like Almost Famous was in England or anything, but it just sounds like a fun thing to do. :)

X-posted to myspace, where I know there are several sympathizers.

A classic homemaking faux paux...

I buy a lot of my baking supplies from the bulk bins at WinCo.  I always write the bulk number on the bag, but sometimes I forget to write what is actually IN the bag, so I end up with several bags of mysterious white stuff. 

Last week I finally grabbed two of the mystery bags and decided to figure out what was in them.  I figured that one was cornstarch, which I buy  a lot of  to use on Kate's bum, and the other was baking soda, which I buy in massive amounts because I use it to wash my diapers.  I remembered a science experiment from jr. high, where we mixed cornstarch and water and observed it's weird property of being runny when there's no pressure on it, and solid when you try to squish it.  (or something like that..maybe it's the other way around).  Anyway, I got a sample of the white stuff in one bag wet, and sure enough, it did the "Oo-bleck" thing (as we called it back then.)  The other stuff dissolved in water, so I assumed that to be the baking soda, and dumped in the container for laundry.

But today I was working on Project Super-Clean the bathroom, and I grabbed the baking soda container and made a paste with my vinegar base bathroom cleaner to get the gunk off around the faucet...but it didn't have the foamy effect I expected.  I began to get suspicious that it was not baking soda after all.

Then it clicked.  I put a little on my finger and licked it off to test my theory...

I was trying to clean my sink with powdered sugar.

Powdered sugar and baking soda look nothing like, just for the record.

This also means that I've washed the past two or three loads of diapers with a powdered sugar additive. No wonder the smell wasn't coming out like it usually does...and it doesn't do much to clean a sink, either.

I had to throw the sugar out, too. With all the double-dipping I do with the laundry detergent scoop and, as of today, the bathroom cleaning toothbrush, I figured it wasn't going to be too appetizing in cooking.

Here's a deep, dark, confession...

Lately I've been itching to write an essay on why the Chronicles of Narnia are not Christian allegory, as it is so commonly accepted, but are  influenced  by Lewis' love for all kinds of mythology.  Granted that there are themes that reflect Lewis' faith, but the plots are not intended to parallel Christianity specifically. 

As one example, no, Aslan is not supposed to be Jesus. A "dying god" figure, yes, and he does carry over the theme of redemption that looks a lot like Christ's work on the cross, but if you look at it closely and study Lewis' intentions for the work, it's not the same story.

I have plenty of quotes from Lewis himself, mostly from God On The Dock, that back this up.  But I have other more pressing things do to tonight, like finish shower thank-yous and dedication invitations to take to church tomorrow, clean up the jam mess in the kitchen, hang up diapers, and spend some time with my husband. 

And of course, I know there is a tiny audience who will actually care. I tried to discuss this once with a friend who goes to seminary (I figured  if he was a graduate student studying theology, I might be able to bounce some ideas off him) and he just looked at me like I was crazy and my points did not register with him at all...but then, he's a nerd, I'm a geek.  We're two different breeds.

So...my geek venture will have to wait.  I need to get on my projects before Kate wakes up.

EDIT: I figured I may as well add a quote for the one point I made...but the first one I could find (with those thank-yous still hanging over my head) isn't the exact one I was thinking of.  Ah well...it's still a good one that shows Lewis' thoughts on the "dying god.":

"Now as myth transcends thought, Incarnation transcends myth. The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens -- at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth... I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual sustenance from the myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed."
C.S. Lewis, 'Myth Became Fact' in God in the Dock, ed. Walter Hooper (Great Britain: Fount, 1979), 43-44.'

The thing is that many cultures have mythology about a "dying god" figure, in all sorts of contexts. Rather than pop up and say "Aslan represents Jesus!" Lewis intended for Aslan simply to be a dying redemptive figure in his story.  This is a nit-picky distinction, but an important one, especially if you look at the rest of the story and see other important areas where Christ and Aslan don't line up.  Still a great illustration of redemption, but not a direct allegory.

Maple Bar - A long donut with maple topping.  A dietary staple for many college students and donut lovers.  On the list of BEST THINGS EVER.

My mom informed me that it may go by a "long john" in other parts of the country.



And I am technically from Washington, but I'm only 15 minutes away from the state line and I spend enough time in Oregon to where I may as well live there. (And I did, for two years!)

Since I have a good sampling of people around North America on my friends list...I have a very important questions.

Is it true that maple bars are strictly a west coast thing?

thedailychelle, who is a Portland native, just moved to Tennessee, walked into a Dunkin' Donuts, and could not get a maple bar. She is currently surveying her friends list, and there are several people who have never even heard of one!

Maybe only my side of the country has this privilege?  I figured you be pressed to find Umpqua Ice Cream or Tillamok products out of the Northwest...but no maple bars?  That's shocking.

Have any other moms noticed that Gerber products, generally, seem to be not so great?

I just find that surprising, since they're such a huge brand.  My Grandma theorizes that they've been around so long they can get away with selling whatever they want.

I am using the plastic pants, but I think I'm going to have to put my own bias tape on them if I want them to last through more than one kid.  The short life of products seems to be a trend, too - the bottle nipples I used with Amy where all sticky when I pulled them out for Kate and I had to throw them out. However, the Evenflo nipples were still fine.  There's all sorts of other stuff...their cloth diapers, nursing pads, baby food, toddler munchies...I'm just not impressed.

Monday: Panties in the tree incident
Tuesday: Found a tube of mascara and painted her face with it
Wednesday: Got into an off-limits cupboard, broke a glass ivy bowl, and apparently was startled to the point where she wet herself (so you can imagine the mess mom got to clean up)
Thursday: Took off her shirt and smeared herself in Desitin (dad took care of that one...) (We also had potential disasters that were thankfully adverted when she ran into the house waving a five foot long bamboo pole and when mom caught her with half the roll of toilet paper unwound.)
Friday: Was with Grandma all day, so mom had a break
Saturday:  Mom heard water running, went in kitchen to investigate.  She found Amy standing on a chair in front of the sink, saying, "I'm just washing my hands!" On further investigation, mom realized that Amy and smeared her hands in butter instead of soap.

And she's still naked....

I was reading in a magazine and came across this article about a program called "Bare Your Bookshelf" where Americans can send their extra Bibles to Third World pastors who don't have a single one.  It says the average American Christian has 9 bibles lying around their house, so the program sends you a pre-paid envelope to send some of those Bibles or other Christian books to someone who can't just walk down to the Dollar Tree and pick one up.

I thought "that sounds cool...I know we have some extra Bibles.  I'll sign up."  Then I counted and realized that we have 18 Bibles in this house. Some are just new Testaments and it's various translations, but still...we have 18 Bibles, and there are churches in this world that don't even have a single one. In American we can't even imagine going into a church where the pastor didn't own a Bible. 

Not only do we have an entire bookshelf of Bibles plus some scattered around the house, we have the internet and could go to Bible Gateway and look up verses in 20 different translations and even in other languages if we felt so inclined.  I was saving them because I was thinking it's handy to have the different translations in case we were teaching a lesson or something, but really, I don't have that reason thanks to the internet.

It is so crazy how much stuff we have in America and how easily we can access information.  Easy to loose perspective on that...

For velvetpage - Here's a CS Lewis quote using on science in apologetics that I thought was kind of fun...

"Science is in continual change and we must try to keep abreast of it.  For the same reason, we must be very cautious of snatching at any scientific theory which, for the moment, seems to be in our favor.  We may mention such things; but we must mention them lightly and without claiming they are more than "interesting". Sentences now beginning "Science has now proved" should be avoided. If we try to base our apologetic on some recent development in science, we shall usually find that just as we have put the finishing touches on our argument, science has changed its mind and quietly withdrawn the theory we have been using as our foundation stone."

- From "Christian Apologetics" in "God In The Dock"

Quotes from CS Lewis' "Letters To An American Lady"

(On an article in Time Magazine about him)
"The review is of course a tissue of muddles and direct falsehoods - I don't say "lies" because people who write such things are not really capable of lying. I mean, to lie = to say what you know to be untrue. But to know this, you have to have the very ideas of truth and falsehood in your head, presupposes a clarity of mind which they haven't got. To call them liars would be as undeserved as a compliment to say that a dog was bad at arithmetic."
(Now that can be taken as a cheap shot at journalists, but since I've worked for newspapers I find that hilarious...and not entirely untrue)

"O have a notion that, apart from actual pain, men and women are quite diversely affected by illness.  To a woman one of the great evils about it is that she can't do things.  To a man (or anyway a man like me) the great consolation is the reflection "Well, anyway, no one can now demand that I should do anything." I have often the fancy that one stage in Purgatory might be a great big kitchen in which things are always going wrong - milk boiling over, crockery getting smashed, toast burning, animals stealing. The women have to learn to sit still and mind their own business: the men have to learn to jump up and do something about it." .... "It is simply my lifelong experience - that men are more likely to hand over to others what they ought to do themselves, and women are more likely to do themselves what others wish they would leave alone."
(I've had this hit me lately...my mom has been a saint and cleaning a lot for me the past few weeks, but now that she's out of town I'm glad to get back to "being useful" and doing things my way. =)

I thought this was very cool...
http://www.makingmemories.org/brides_against_breast_cancer.html