I arrived home the other day, to find that, as my wife had her back turned, our ten month old son had quietly slipped the confines of his diaper, and was hanging in the breeze. It should have been a moment of laughter, perhaps even a Kodak moment to embarass him with on the first date. But I definitely know better than to snap a picture (I know families who have had their children removed forever and had the brand of "sex offender" permanently stamped upon them for just such innocent snapshot...
For those who haven't gathered, I am a conservative Christian. And I am unapologetically so. As conservative Christians, who homeschool our children, we are careful about the curriculum we choose. When the kids were younger, that extended to the books we had in our library. And so it was a surprise to us when we saw that a popular children's book series contained some material that we considered VERY offensive. We began to pick through the books to decide if we needed to get rid of the en...
OK, here's the scoop: Having been underemployed for almost 9 months, I have decided that my "traditional" job choices are going to be largely beyond my reach. So, I've been putting my old noggin to work on how to "reinvent" myself so that I don't have to deliver papers until I die. Next month, there will be a business expo here in town. Along with the expo will be a job fair where you can turn in your resume. So, here's where I'm going with this. Over 13 years' involvement in politics,...
OK, here's the backstory. In our quest towards eventually living off our 1/4 acre lot, I have been experimenting with various agricultural methods I have learned about through the years. One of those methods is a favorite among survivalists; the idea is, you plant potatoes inside a tire, then add dirt and tires to the potato plant as it grows upward. When the plant has fully grown, according to what I have heard, you will be able to pull off each tire, knock the dirt out, and have potatoes al...
When I went to the post office yesterday, I pulled out a letter that was hand printed and had no return address. Because many of my customers commonly send tips this way, I thought nothing of it. I opened it and out slid a pink piece of stationary with a butterfly on it. My appreciation for it ended with the reading of the first sentence. It was hate mail. I will decline to share the text with you, as it bears no relevance to the topic of this discussion and, frankly, it still stings. But...
Well, today I hit the big 35. Not as big a milestone as the cornerstones of 30 or 40, but, as someone who, as a teen was filled with the fatalistic vision that I wouldn't make it to 30, I view these years as bonus years. I didn't think I'd have them when I was younger (and heart problems in my mid-20's only served to reinforce that thought), but I enjoy every year I've had since...and hope I'm only halfway done inflicting my opinion on others...lol.
As a veteran homeschooler, I am repeatedly questioned about "socialization" where my children are concerned. Age and experience have caused me to be far more tactful than my initial gut response to a canned answer that is composed without a moment's thought on the part of the questioner. I saw a news clip (more on this later) that mentioned "socialization" in a less than admirable fashion, and decided it would be good article material. So, I turned to the easy to use, trusty google definition...
For those who don't know, after years of slaving away for jobs with ZERO job security, I have been working quite diligently at being self employed. It seems to suit me, and, I'm not likely to "downsize" myself. The paper route has been the "meat" of our income. Collecting cans and various other scavenging (which will probably improve once we can afford to purchase a metal detector) have been the chief second source of income. I have been trying to get together the tools to do lawn service as ...
I love the Internet. I can't say, however, that I'm always overly enthused with the results the Internet gives us. Take, for instance, my family. I have blogged previously on why it is in my own best interests to keep my family at an arm's length; specifically my mental health as regards a family that has always been quite adept at putting me down and helping run my self perception to ridiculously low depths. The more I am away from my family, the more I grow in my own sense of self and self ...
After reading this very funny story from our own SPC nobody special ( Link ), who got the idea after reading this very funny story from our own hunter of lobsters ( Link ) (which are really just "cockroaches of the sea" anyway, but I digress), I thought I'd relay one of my own slum stories. After moving out of an air conditioned slum in one part of town (air conditioned because of a 2 inch crack in the corner of the kitchen), which, despite being a slum, had no backed up sewage pipe b...
Well, now that we have a computer again (internet hookup scheduled for next Thursday), I put myself to writing this morning. I have quite a few "projects" running through my head, but chose to focus on the one in which I have the greatest amount of experience and thus, has the greatest chance for faster publication: homeschooling (I have worked as a homeschool lobbyist and paid public speaker for 8 years, and have served as the head of a local group of 175 homeschool families as well as board me...
OK, so we're past the "I hope" stage, and to the point where we can actually start designing and preparing for our greenhouse. The problem is,I have a short list of sources for ideas, and none of those ideas involve blueprints for cost estimating.Anyone with experience and/or knowledge in this area is welcome to reply (my last article sunk like a stone). What I am designing is an 8x16 leanto greenhouse against the back side of our house. the west wall will be opaque, decisions about the roof ...
My longtime readers will remember the birth of our only son (after four girls), back in 2004, right before things started to get a little hectic and lead us down a rather new and different path. Well, hard as it is to believe, two and a half years have passed since his birth, and I'm finding myself with a daughter a scant year and a half from being officially a teenager, and a son quickly transitioning from toddler to preschooler. Quinn is, as have been most of our children, quite a precociou...
As the discussion on JU revolves increasingly around food, I thought it interesting to add my little piece. We have a couple vegetarians around here who have discussed their food choices. While I respect everyone's different preferences, I've come to realize a fair amount about diets over the years. I am a "semi-vegetarian"; which pretty much makes me the Rodney Dangerfield of eating habits. Traditional meat and potatoes folks can't comprehend why I eschew all but the occasional offering of r...
OK, since a few of you have chosen to put recipes on your blogs, I'm going to toss out a contribution of mine (since I'm making it tonight). This is a very easy recipe that can be made without a lot of trouble, but it's a little costly to many of us due to the ingredients (although I personally always have curry powder and extra virgin olive oil on hand so it's made by ingredients we usually have readily available): Ingredients I don't use precise measures; I cook to taste): Extra Virgin O...