The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. (Fran Lebowitz)
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November 2007
Monthly Archive
November 30, 2007
November 28, 2007
‘Child’ said the Voice, ‘I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.’ -C.S. Lewis (The Horse and his Boy)
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November 27, 2007
“No, you can’t have any more spinach until you eat more of your spaghetti.”
Yeah. Ours are weird that way.
Related posts:
- Overheard at My House
- Overheard at my House
- Overheard at my House: Casual Day has Gone Too Far…
- Overheard at my House – On the Road…
November 27, 2007
“He who wants to change the world should already begin by cleaning the dishes.â€
Paul Carvel quotes (Belgian Writer and Editor, b.1964)
Or perhaps by cleaning the basement; which is good news because that is what we spent yesterday doing. Hopefully we can pull out the hammers today.
Day Two Photos:
<img src="http://www.smugmug.com/photos/226110284-Th.jpg"
And here’s the pile of stuff to go to the Goodwill so far:
<img src="http://www.smugmug.com/photos/226110384-Th.jpg"
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November 26, 2007
We bought a fixer upper ten years ago. We hoped that by now it would be all fixed up. It’s not. Life happens and somehow spending time with friends and family and volunteer work seemed and still seems far more important than hammering and painting.
That said, we are a growing family and half of our house is not currently usable. The basement has been in progress for about six years. We ripped it out when we discovered electrical fires in the walls.
This week MrPages has taken time off work so we can see what we can do. The calendar appears clear. Friends and family know we’ve tried to guard this week for work. So we’ll give it a go and see what happens!
Day One Photos:
<img src="http://www.smugmug.com/photos/225716267-Th.jpg"
This is the starting point. Notice that the ceiling has 3 boards up (that have been there for months, lonely). There is stuff piled from the workshop cleanout, and other piles of miscellany. The walls are framed, finished and primed, waiting for paint. Wiring is done. Lighting is done, ready to be hung. Flooring is done (as far as we’re going to finish it anytime soon). What’s up for this week is finishing the ceiling, perhaps the trim, and painting walls and ceiling.
<nature documentary whisper>Let’s watch, and see how far they get…</whisper>
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November 13, 2007
I needed to brush up on my geography, and I felt like my children needed to clarify the difference between Guyana, where we have missionary friends and Ghana, where we mistakenly thought they were headed.
We are very cautious about allowing our children to play games on the computer, but these are an exception. They are educational without any frills, and do the job without any inane additions that attempt to make educational activities more palatable to the general public. And best of all, they are free.
(They do offer other “games,” but we haven’t done any of those, so I cannot speak to them.)
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November 11, 2007
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, we are asked to pause and remember the thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives fighting for freedom and democracy during the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and during peacekeeping missions.
And we will do so.
The LittlePages and I made this video a few years ago. We learned a lot. We mourned even more.
(You may need to click on the empty page to get the flash to play properly.)
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November 2, 2007
Maybe you have to be here to get these but…
Today the LittlePages were putting on a play. The first act was The Three Bears. Baby Bear and Papa Bear occupied the stage, while the narrator delivered her lines. Two or three lines in she paused and said, “There are only two bears because there was an incident on the walk.”
What kind of incident? Where do they get this stuff? I tell ya, I’m so glad we gave up TV. Real life is so much more fun!
Related posts:
- Overheard at My House
- Overheard at my House
- Overheard at my House: Casual Day has Gone Too Far…
- Overheard at my House – On the Road…
November 2, 2007
(First off, let me say I understand that Michael Moore is controversial and is very good at telling his side of the story.)
Last night MrPages had a sore throat, a tight chest and watery eyes. It seemed a good night to put up our feet, open up the laptap, and enjoy a movie. He’s been waiting to see Michael Moore’s new movie Sicko for awhile now. It seemed apropos.
I have no words to express my horror at this film:
- a young man having to sew up his own wound because he has no insurance.
- a woodworking hobbyist having to choose what finger to reattach because he can’t afford to pay for both.
- retired parents having to move into the corner of a daughter’s crowded basement because they had to declare bankruptcy because they couldn’t pay the deductibles anymore.
- a woman losing her eighteen-month-old toddler because the hospital she was taken to didn’t work for her insurance company. This woman had full insurance, but her baby died because that particular hospital wouldn’t have been paid!
And that’s just a few of the many people interviewed.
I feel so blessed to live in a country that currently offers universal health care. And then a great fear wells up in me as I realize that more and more Canadians want a two-tier system, so they can get “better” health care.
How can what is happening in the US possibly be considered better? Better for who? Only the wealthy? What kind of civilization is that?
Every Canadian needs to see this movie. We need to see what the chase for profits will do to our system. We need to understand that it is a privilege to help those in our society that cannot help themselves.
Even members of my own family tout the benefits of a system that would allow for them to pay to get the help they want when they want it. I think their being naive. The reality is that their children and grandchildren could not afford such care.
If I lived in the United States, I COULD NOT GET ANY HEALTHCARE COVERAGE. I have a benign heart murmur, possibly the result of childhood heart surgery. There isn’t a single HMO that would insure me. I would have to pay for any health care out of pocket. I don’t have that kind of money. It would have cost me $10,000 to have one baby! That’s if there were no complications. No wonder many of my US friends are having unattended births at home. This is absolutely insane!
So if my taxes are the cost of insuring that all Canadians will continue to have Universal Health Care, than I will gladly pass those dollars over. If it means I have to wait a bit longer at the doctor’s office, then I will be patient. If it means it will take some time and extra money to deal with the problems that do come with universal health care, then I will stop complaining and try to be part of the solution.
Because the alternative is truly sick.
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November 2, 2007
The Disagreeable Elephant
by LittlePage1Alfred was an elephant
Mary was a snail
Alfred said “I really can’t”
And Mary left the trailAlfred was an elephant
Mary was a snail
Alfred said “I think I shan’t”
And Mary got the mailAlfred was an elephant
Mary was a snail
Alfred had an angry rant
And Mary pulled his tail
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November 1, 2007
I gave up reading fiction of all types a few years ago as an exercise in fasting. It worked so well, that I never really picked up fictional reading again, at least not like I did in my younger days when I could inhale a book a night, most of them probably twaddle. Now I am mostly engaged in previewing children’s literature, and catching up on hundred and fifty year old classics that I’ve missed along the way.
A few weeks ago in our local newspaper (which I was glancing at in a coffee shop, because we gave up all news media in another fasting exercise) I ran across a list of secular “must reads” for today’s literature lovers. I wrote the titles down and searched them out at our library.
One of them turned out to be a post-apocalyptic novel about cannibals and such scary stuff that apparently ended on a hopeful note for mankind. As I am sensitive to violence and suffer from night terrors, I passed.
Next on the list was a new release that currently has 463 holds. There are ten copies of the book available. I added my name to my list and I’ll probably have forgotten why I ordered the book by the time I get it.
Three times lucky, the third book looked acceptable and was available.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a coming-of-age book of a young man who lives in Afghanistan at the time of the Russian invasion. He is haunted by his betrayal of a young friend and as he grows to manhood and beyond, he tries to atone for this betrayal. He eventually returns to the country he was exiled from and finds freedom from his demons.
(more…)
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