While I'm Stewing on Weightier Topics

I have some serious blogs brewing, but they're sort of in that whiny, poor me phase, or that sappy stage. They need work. (Although, perhaps you were thinking that my earlier posts never made it out of either of those two stages and so why stop now? Trust me, these are worse.)

In the meantime I have some great nerd news to share with you all! (Not exactly clear who "you all" entails, but those that I'm sure of are going to LOVE this.)

There is a Grammar Girl podcast! The podcasts are short, sweet and super informative. Today I learned that high school students are inadvertently solving a major English Language crisis, namely the lack of a singular, gender neutral pronoun. Researchers in Baltimore have observed students speaking slang and using "Yo" as a pronoun. I also learned the difference between who and whom. Actually I think that was review and I just forgot.

In sharing this wonderful news with Charlotte, I also learned how to remember when to use "lay" and when to use "lie." She told me, "Chickens lay, people lie." Good one Charlotte.

So, embrace your inner nerd and go to itunes to subscribe. If that's not an option for you then go to
Grammar Girl
and listen on the website. There's a Mr. Manners there too that I might have to investigate.

Scrimple

At least I think that's how you would spell it. This is Abby's latest word creation, and this one is so important I had to share it with all of you. Scrimple is when your sleeves are too long, but you push them above your wrist anyway and then it bunches up on your bicep. Scrimple is bad and makes you look "goofy." I've included a photo here so that you can be clear on what it is that you're trying to avoid.

Scrimple has also come to refer to that wrinkle that you can get in your hair from ponytails and hair clips. I don't have a picture of that one, but I bet you know what I mean.

Best of luck to all of you in your efforts to be fashionable!

Nerd Mom Strikes Again

Actually, I'm thinking of changing the name of my blog to Nerd Mom. I like it. It might be taken though. Because it's so cool.

My kids don't watch Zoe 101. Not because I so carefully screen what they watch. Not because I'm some kind of conservative nut who hates TV. Mostly they don't watch it because I limit how much they watch and they would have to trade in a show that they already watch to be allowed to watch it. I don't see them giving up Full House anytime soon. (Do you see the hints of nerdiness already?) I might not let them watch the show though, even if they requested it because it might be a little too old for the four year old. Unfortunately for the other two, if it's too old for Abby, they aren't likely to find a time when they can watch their show without her around. I had to cut them off of Hannah Montana because Abby has enough sassy in her naturally. We don't need the added ingredients.

Now the star of the show is pregnant at 16 and loads of people (I've heard them myself) are flipping out. I'm not here to pass judgement on the pregnant girl or the people flipping out. I'm here to say, "Nerd mom dodges another bullet! My kids don't even watch the show! No big discussions or decisions for us!"

So, yeah, nerdy is good. Saves you a lot of trouble.

Let's Hear it for Intolerance

Seriously. I really mean it. Tolerance is overrated. There are some things that should not be tolerated. Some behaviors and attitudes are simply wrong. Prejudice is one of those things. I heard a podcast from This American Life this morning that broke my heart. You can download it
here
and listen for yourself.

The gist of the story is of a fourth grade girl of devout Muslims was so persecuted by her teacher and classmates for being Muslim, that it literally tore her family apart. She missed most of fourth grade because it was so horrible and in the end her family had to move away, with the mom and five kids moving to one place and the dad moving else where. The principal did nothing to help this family, nor did the school district. In fact, it was district approved and required reading material that started the whole thing! In the end the US Justice Department got involved, but it was much too late. Now the mom has to work and go to school instead of being a full time mom. She and her kids have hardly any time together.

The whole thing made me sick. As a mom, as a teacher, as a Christian, I was hit at every level of my identity. How could this happen? How could a teacher, a person responsible for a child's well being, who was a follower of Jesus- or so she would have us believe- behave like this? Why did none of the other kids or their parents stand up for this girl? She had been in their homes playing with their daughters for years?! Didn't any other teacher know what was happening and why didn't he or she stand up say something? Much of what was done by the other children happened at recess. Where was the playground staff? They just let kids follow other kids around and taunt them?

I like to think, put in that situation, that I would do better. I like to think that is true of the people that I teach with, of the people who teach my children. I like to think that the people I go to church with would be outraged. With any luck we'll never be put in that situation, but somehow I doubt that will be the case. I pray that I will have the strength that I would need. That my own children would be strong.

The most amazing part of the story to me is that both the girl and her mother still believe that this situation was a fluke, that most Americans are not like that. They still believe that this is the best place to live. To have that kind of belief in a group of people, to not become bitter and over generalizing, after having been treated so badly, is very admirable.

Neighborhood Grocery Store

I love my Meijer store. I don't necessarily love all Meijer stores, but I do love MY Meijer. I especially like to go on weekday mornings. Those first shift ladies, Willie, Mary, Clara, and Linda are so wonderful. They remember you, they remember what you talked about last time, they're good at their jobs, they share a little about themselves- but know TMI before it leaves their mouths! They make a daunting chore have a pleasant ending.

Today I was in Linda's line and she said, "I love your bags!" I chuckled and said, "Thanks! I got them at Meijer!" Really she was just kidding me anyway since the bags in question were reusable shopping bags with Meijer's name in big print on both sides. We started chatting about the bags though and how much we BOTH enjoy using them.

I purchased my ten reusable shopping bags about two months ago. I was thrilled that I could get them for only 99 cents each. I had been psyching myself up to lay out 30-40 dollars to get started on cloth shopping bags when this beautiful deal came along. It wasn't just the price that I loved, I love the shape as well. They're square, ok rectangular, and have a plastic sheet in the bottom that reinforces it and helps the bag stay standing and open. They're pretty big too. I can pack in a lot more than I can in the usual plastic bag. I just keep most of them in my van and a few in my car so that I'm ready whenever I decide it's time to stop at Meijer. I even used them at a Spartan grocery store once.

I asked Linda if she saw very many people come through with them and she was pleased to tell me that she does. She also told me that she loves loading them compared to the plastic. She said that you can put so much more in and they stay open. See why I love these ladies? I had also noticed that there is a little tag on them that the cashier hooks to the hook where the plastic bags are attached to that spinning around thing. Someone had actually considered the people using the bags when they were designing them! That is a real breakthrough.

My life is pretty simple, but it does involve more than a few thankless chores like grocery shopping. That sort of thing can get you down in a life but on the other hand the small joys can take you pretty far. Reusable shopping bags give me a little gleeful skip in my heart, as well as a little pleasant conversation with "my" Meijer ladies.

“…with the dawn of redeeming grace…” For some reason that line of Silent Night never jumped out at me until this year. That’s a bit of a shocker because if there’s one thing I love it’s a good redemption story.

Redemption is when despite your efforts to save money by using bits of left over paint to paint the playroom, you still have to buy new paint because as you paint the last two walls (orange, to go with the two yellow and one red wall) you discover the ceiling is falling and will have to be replaced. When the new ceiling is mudded in it comes down the wall about six inches so the ceiling and four of the five walls in the room must be repainted. However, if we hadn’t gone to all that trouble, we wouldn’t have discovered the ceiling was falling until it landed on someone.

Redemption happens when you’re depressed because all you do is clean your house over and over and no one appreciates it for one little second and as you’re vacuuming, in July, you find foil confetti pieces from the balloons that were hanging from the ceiling on New Year’s Eve that the kids popped at “midnight.” And as you’re vacuuming it up, you’re reminded of what great friends you have and how much fun you all have together.

Redemption happens when you take all your junk and you put it with your friends’ junk and you have a garage sale. You take that money and sit on it awhile, and pray that God will bless that money. Then, when someone calls and says they know of a lady that’s going to get evicted at Christmas and she knew that you had a little pot of money and could you help? Then you can say, “Sure, no problem. How much does she need?” and you write the check. Done deal.

Redemption happens every night when even though you have done wrong things during the day, you’ve lost your temper, you were quick to judge, you were lazy about doing the right thing, you get three times a jillion kisses and hugs at bedtime. You get to say three prayers and hold three hands. You get three invitations to stay and never go. You get another chance to do better tomorrow.


“… Jesus, Lord at thy birth. Jesus, Lord at thy birth.”

It's A Wonderful Life

It occurred to me while watching my most favorite Christmas movie, that maybe I wanted to give up being cynical. Cynicism protects you from being disappointed, but only in theory. I'm thinking that actually it gets in the way of faith and joy. After all, if you're busy being a cynic you don't have much faith or hope that good things are going to happen and then you don't even have joy right in that moment. I was also thinking about my blog and that a lot of my posts are rants about "crazy people." I bet there a plenty of other blogs out there about "crazy people" that are really talking about me!

Along those lines, it occurred to me a couple weeks ago that I might be a little bit judgey as well. As I was driving through a neighbor hood between my kid's school and the store, I was noticing how much or how little trash people had put out! I was all, "Oh, those people are so environmentally evil! And those people are so environmentally righteous." I had to laugh right out loud at myself because that is crazy talk.

So, trying to pull these seemingly random thoughts together, I decided that this year the thing I could do to make God's named "hallowed" in my part of the world was to drop the cynicism and really live with faith that God is good and that I can join him in his campaign of goodness. I was watching another of my favorite movies, The Return of the King, and thinking, not for the first time, what amazing leaders Théoden and Aragorn are. They lead by inspiring. They are realistic about their odds of living, let alone winning, and yet they do not despair. They do not become cynical. They do not scare their men into following them and laying down their lives for the good of many. They fill their men with hope by their own example in the darkest of times. They rush forward to do good at the possible expense of their lives. That's who I want to be. There is no room for cynicism if you're going to grow hope your heart and the hearts of those around you.

On the upside, as I was telling Christi and Ginger about my desire, need, to become less cynical, we concluded that sarcasm is a different thing altogether, and I don't need to give that up at this time!