My Own Thoughts

It’s not for me but it is beautiful. R is going to destroy it this weekend. Hopefully in a beautiful manner. Here are some examples of the look. Or maybe this video. But this was the one that started it for R.

Before reading any farther, name four Asian nations. … Did you do that yet? … My husband’s four were nations we’ve been involved with in wars. (China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea) Mine were “big, famous” and the two I’ve taught in missions classes for kids. (China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia) My youngest son went for big population [...]

is the topic of a blog entry on Betsy’s Page. Boys have been less well educated, starting in the 80s, when my husband was in high school. But the trends are reversing. Despite this, the researchers are still finding boys are more medicated and more isolated -into special ed classes- and less likely to go [...]

E’s been taking classes that will transfer to UT. Two of the classes he took, it turns out he doesn’t need. But the hours will still transfer. And they were interesting classes that took him out of his comfort zone. I was thinking he should have more of his general ed classes at the community [...]

for homeschooling can be a challenge. E has finished four years of high school already. And he should be going into 11th grade this year. So he’s been taking classes at the community college. He’s planning to transfer to UT when I let him go (when he’s 18). I’ve looked online and found out what [...]

Okay, they recalled the implants. She had reconstructive surgery done. Dropped to 400 cc’s from 500. It was outpatient. Crazy.

I’ve been reminded that for years, decades, my church has had a history of teens bringing their friends and having those friends accepted. I’ve learned that if someone is gone enough, you can get a good workaround in place. I’ve learned that emails come off snipey when you are tired and upset. Don’t write them [...]

I’ve been saying that for years. Turns out the Chinese have been eating dinosaur bones for centuries because they are dragon bones and full of mythical powers. National Geographic.

and it’s still not done. Not anywhere close. I did go from eleven boxes of things in there to four. But those other seven? I got three trashcans full of stuff out of them. I am not sure how that happened. Except that the boxes were packed a lot tighter. But still… I threw one [...]

I’m down four boxes and have 22 more to go in the “clean the teen room closet” plan. Oh my goodness. I didn’t realize how much was in there, packed tightly together. And I’m having to decide what I want to keep and what I want to throw away. I have thrown away two arm [...]

I cleaned out two closets. I’m very happy with the way they looked and we didn’t need what I took out, either ever or rarely. The rarely things I stowed in the Harry Potter closet, under the stairs. I want the house to look better than it does. This helps me.

Must: front door (both sides) closet in living room edge of new work in hallway upstairs back door (both sides) the teen room wall where the dog tore it. How will I match the color? media room kitchen (or do new wallpaper, but stripping the wall paper and putting on textured paint would be cheaper [...]

Impatiens for the shaded areas Encore azaleas for the sunny areas Knockout roses for the sunny areas Something, anything? for the front where the crepe myrtle is The folks writing on curb appeal recommend yellow flowers because it makes people want to spend money.

The how-to places on preparing your home for sale say that you should delete furniture so that there is only enough for people to be able to tell what the room is for. I think that is a little extreme. I’ve seen houses with only a tiny table in the room and they turned me [...]

the sleeping bags in E’s room (we never use them) the tent stuff (same) Okay, I can’t do that. They’re survival stuff. Most of my Christmas stuff. Get rid of anything I don’t love that is mine. Pack the boys’ things in one normal size box for ease of whatever. The two small fake evergreens [...]

Obviously clean and do repairs. Replace broken blinds, etc. I think this would be a good idea to do now, whether we sell the home or not. I’ve been trying to do more real cleaning and this is helping me get motivated. Remove any personality from the rooms: personal photos, knick knacks, jewelry, bathroom things. [...]

Tom Wolfe: “One by one, Marshall McLuhan’s wackiest-seeming predictions come true. Forty years ago, he said that modern communications technology would turn the young into tribal primitives who pay attention not to objective “news” reports but only to what the drums say, i.e., rumors. And there you have blogs. The universe of blogs is a [...]

I’m having trouble staying focused while lying in bed praying, so I thought I’d get up and write you a letter. I know you can read anything I write, but I thought I’d post it up here so I could think through things and come back to it easily. First, I want to tell you [...]

R thinks I’m having too much fun looking for a house in another town. But it’s actually a little stressful. We have more house than we need here, but we’ve done a lot to improve it and make it ours. The idea of letting go and starting over does not fill my heart with joy. [...]

Paint: Paint the media room white instead of red. Repaint the office white or some pale color instead of bright purple. Or for the short term, stick a bed and dresser in there and say it’s a girl’s bedroom. Maybe repaint the hall so that it is white rather than pinkish. Paint the pantry closet [...]