Today we removed the body of Miranda from our house. You can read about her arrival in our household here. We are now caged-rodent-less. Still have some free-range mice in the basement periodically, though.
End of the Gerbil Era.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Life in the Express Lane...
My mom has been harassing me to try the Harris Teeter Express Lane for a while now. (Hi Mom!) She swears that a family friend says that not only does it save time (no brainer) but it also saves money.
Yeah, I smiled politely. I knew no one could ever beat the Superwalmart for grocery prices.
Oh. So. True. For prices.
What I found out in my first foray into the Express Lane is this: I come home with pretty much exactly what was on my grocery list. No extra ice cream. No unplanned cookies or frozen desserts. No flip flops. No DVDs. No new summer plates. No UNC sweatshirts. No beading supplies. No new bathmats. Just groceries.
Last spring we discovered the glories of e-mealz, but I have to confess that my LEAST favorite part of e-mealzing has been scavenger hunt for ingredients at the Superwalmart. The expedition inevitably let me to parts of the store I had no business exploring. And I always came home with MUCH more than the items on my list.
So far, I'm averaging $60 a week less in the Express Lane than at Superwalmart. For realz! And that's just planning around the specials. If I could ever bring myself to clip coupons, I'm betting I'd save a ton more.
I sit down on Sunday night, look at the website, plan menus, shop online (using my previous list as a basis for recurring items), and -- voila! -- one of the Harris Teeter elves pulls the items off the shelf, puts them in a cart, and rings them up. When I arrive, I tell them my last name, they bring out the receipt and scan my debit card and load the groceries in the car.
I don't even get out of the car at the Harris Teeter. Shoot, by not buying the canvas patio unbrella (at a VIC price of $69.95), I can pay for someone else to do my marketing for over a year.
Thanks, Mom!
Yeah, I smiled politely. I knew no one could ever beat the Superwalmart for grocery prices.
Oh. So. True. For prices.
What I found out in my first foray into the Express Lane is this: I come home with pretty much exactly what was on my grocery list. No extra ice cream. No unplanned cookies or frozen desserts. No flip flops. No DVDs. No new summer plates. No UNC sweatshirts. No beading supplies. No new bathmats. Just groceries.
Last spring we discovered the glories of e-mealz, but I have to confess that my LEAST favorite part of e-mealzing has been scavenger hunt for ingredients at the Superwalmart. The expedition inevitably let me to parts of the store I had no business exploring. And I always came home with MUCH more than the items on my list.
So far, I'm averaging $60 a week less in the Express Lane than at Superwalmart. For realz! And that's just planning around the specials. If I could ever bring myself to clip coupons, I'm betting I'd save a ton more.
I sit down on Sunday night, look at the website, plan menus, shop online (using my previous list as a basis for recurring items), and -- voila! -- one of the Harris Teeter elves pulls the items off the shelf, puts them in a cart, and rings them up. When I arrive, I tell them my last name, they bring out the receipt and scan my debit card and load the groceries in the car.
I don't even get out of the car at the Harris Teeter. Shoot, by not buying the canvas patio unbrella (at a VIC price of $69.95), I can pay for someone else to do my marketing for over a year.
Thanks, Mom!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
With love...
I love my job so much. My prayer is to love my colleagues and the students and their families in Christ. No paycheck or benefit package will ever be enough compensation for the manic lifestyle of a teacher. But love... that makes it all worthwhile.
I love the fact that encouragement runs rampant on the staff of our school. The other day I was very upset about something at church. I shared it with a friend/colleague. She listened and said, "Can I pray for you?" And right there, in the middle of the day--in the middle of the workroom, she lifted my burden before the Lord.
I love the fact that every single thing we teach is founded and grounded in God's Word.
I love the family of friends we have met through football and the encouragement they have given us to "love-on" our family and friends.
I love that I work with men and women who are deeply burdened for the lives of the students and their families. And that my colleagues invest countless hours in prayer for the kids by name. And countless more hours beyond that exhorting and encouraging the kids as they navigate wisely the tricky waters of the teen years. And I love that I share that burden and the privilege of prayer, exhortation and encouragement.
I love watching the students grow in their faith and their academic achievements. I love hearing them pray for each other and our nation and the tragedy in Haiti.
I love that after years of trying to find a ministry that fits the gifts and calling the Lord has placed on my life, I finally feel like I am doing what I should be doing.
I love that the whole family has a ministry there, too. The kids go to school, I teach at school, and Jimmy coaches. I love that our shared ministry has brought us closer together as a family.
I love that the administration practices love and care for our families. I love the birthday and anniversary cards. I love the quick encouraging words about our kids that come unsolicited from other teachers and principals. And, of course, I love the chocolate that arrives in perfect timing from Mary Z.
I've been praying that the Lord would put His love in my heart. I love that He is doing that!
I love the fact that encouragement runs rampant on the staff of our school. The other day I was very upset about something at church. I shared it with a friend/colleague. She listened and said, "Can I pray for you?" And right there, in the middle of the day--in the middle of the workroom, she lifted my burden before the Lord.
I love the fact that every single thing we teach is founded and grounded in God's Word.
I love the family of friends we have met through football and the encouragement they have given us to "love-on" our family and friends.
I love that I work with men and women who are deeply burdened for the lives of the students and their families. And that my colleagues invest countless hours in prayer for the kids by name. And countless more hours beyond that exhorting and encouraging the kids as they navigate wisely the tricky waters of the teen years. And I love that I share that burden and the privilege of prayer, exhortation and encouragement.
I love watching the students grow in their faith and their academic achievements. I love hearing them pray for each other and our nation and the tragedy in Haiti.
I love that after years of trying to find a ministry that fits the gifts and calling the Lord has placed on my life, I finally feel like I am doing what I should be doing.
I love that the whole family has a ministry there, too. The kids go to school, I teach at school, and Jimmy coaches. I love that our shared ministry has brought us closer together as a family.
I love that the administration practices love and care for our families. I love the birthday and anniversary cards. I love the quick encouraging words about our kids that come unsolicited from other teachers and principals. And, of course, I love the chocolate that arrives in perfect timing from Mary Z.
I've been praying that the Lord would put His love in my heart. I love that He is doing that!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Things worth doing...
With time at such a premium in our house, I am working hard to spend time doing only things worth doing.
Tonight was a wonderful night. It was worth missing a couple of calendar events to have a relaxed dinner as a family. Most of this week we have eaten dinner and rushed out the door to an event or headed back to homework, but tonight we had no firm commitments to be anywhere but here. And tomorrow we have no school. *Deep sigh of relief.*
I was freezing cold at dinner. Jimmy decided to grill pork chops outside in 30 degree weather -- they were awesome by the way -- but during prep time, the backdoor was opened and closed a bunch. I am not a warm-natured person, and I shivered through dinner until everyone was through. As we were finishing up, I walked over to the chair where I usually sit and stood above my little personal space heater, wrapped in a blanket. I said, "I am SO chilled!" There was a little banter, and then Jimmy and I both sang at the same time, "I got chills! They're multiplying!" And Kelsey joined in. And before we knew it, we had a family tribute to Grease going on. Tone for the evening set.
Once you venture into the territory of singing Broadway show tunes at dinner, there aren't many activity options for the rest of the evening that can begin to touch sing-along time, but we managed. After Zacky went to bed, the rest of us settled in for a MST3K double-feature. Can't remember laughing that much in a LONG time!
After feeling so many years like I couldn't miss anything, I'm getting comfortable with pickin' and choosin'. I'm glad tonight we chose home and family and laughter. That was definitely a thing worth doing.
Tonight was a wonderful night. It was worth missing a couple of calendar events to have a relaxed dinner as a family. Most of this week we have eaten dinner and rushed out the door to an event or headed back to homework, but tonight we had no firm commitments to be anywhere but here. And tomorrow we have no school. *Deep sigh of relief.*
I was freezing cold at dinner. Jimmy decided to grill pork chops outside in 30 degree weather -- they were awesome by the way -- but during prep time, the backdoor was opened and closed a bunch. I am not a warm-natured person, and I shivered through dinner until everyone was through. As we were finishing up, I walked over to the chair where I usually sit and stood above my little personal space heater, wrapped in a blanket. I said, "I am SO chilled!" There was a little banter, and then Jimmy and I both sang at the same time, "I got chills! They're multiplying!" And Kelsey joined in. And before we knew it, we had a family tribute to Grease going on. Tone for the evening set.
Once you venture into the territory of singing Broadway show tunes at dinner, there aren't many activity options for the rest of the evening that can begin to touch sing-along time, but we managed. After Zacky went to bed, the rest of us settled in for a MST3K double-feature. Can't remember laughing that much in a LONG time!
After feeling so many years like I couldn't miss anything, I'm getting comfortable with pickin' and choosin'. I'm glad tonight we chose home and family and laughter. That was definitely a thing worth doing.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Dear Parents...
Dear Parents... (not MY parents, but the parents of all those teens and tweens running around this country):
Remember how from the 1970's and into the early 1990's women were sold the line that you can have it all? Career. Husband. Kids. Friends. Hobbies. Showcase home. Somewhere in there it went from can have it all to must have it all.
And then sometime in the mid-1990's as I recall, more and more of my friends started hopping off of the career ladder and into full time wife and mom status. We got burned out. We realized that we were holding many titles and delegating most of our duties, including the most sacred... taking care of our husbands and kids and homes.
We came to peace with the fact that we couldn't have it all because we couldn't do it all. Having our lives spread a mile wide and an inch deep stinked, stank, stunk.
Remember that?
OK...
We're doing the same thing to our kids. Here's an excerpt from an article we ran in the first issue of our school magazine. It describes the typical day of an average middle or high school student.
Today’s youth are under unprecedented stress due to the
intensity of their school assignments, extracurricular activities
and social lives. The typical [****] high school student wakes
up at 5:30 a.m. Those who choose to take zero hour classes and
those who participate in morning practices with the marching
band or workouts with sports teams arrive at school in time for a
7:00 a.m. start. School runs until 3:05 p.m. and athletic practices
go for a minimum of two hours, lasting usually until 5:30 p.m.
Then students head home or to work or to volunteer commitments
or to church or to other practices or lessons. After grabbing a
quick dinner on the run, they start homework, often beginning
their assignments at 10:00 p.m. or later, with hours of work to
complete before going to bed. They wrap up homework (and
Facebook) well after midnight, fall asleep for a few short hours,
and wake early the next morning to do it all over again.
I feel comfortable quoting that information because even though the student got the byline, I actually wrote that paragraph. Why ? After trying and trying to get him to elaborate on the idea of teen stress management, I finally gave up. He couldn't string together anything remotely coherent; he was too tired.
Would you care to guess just how many emails I've gotten complaining that having to study for a test or complete a routine homework assignment is interfering with the time the parents have committed their kids to attend dance class - soccer practice - piano lessons - art lessons - voice lessons - play rehearsals - hunting season - whateverelsesomeonehasfiguredtheycanchargeparentsfor? More than I care to count. Every single time I get a complaint, it is linked to how little time the kids have after school for homework because of extracurricular commitments.
I would guess that about 30% of my middle school students and about 80% of my high school students get five or fewer hours of sleep a night. These kids are 12-18 years old! If a generation of well-educated career women couldn't handle "having it all," what on earth makes us think our kids can?
Moms and dads... step up to the plate and be the grown ups. Let the kids be kids. Give them some white space on their calendars. Let them taste new things... don't let them get eaten alive by those things. What we thought were our fun activities are someone else's business. True story. Some great salesmen have convinced us that our kids have to have outside instruction on how to play and be creative and express themselves. They have brainwashed us into thinking our kids need to be doing something away from home constantly and that we need to pay experts to help them do it. They have built an industry out of parental fear and guilt.
At what price? Our kids are exhausted... burned out. We have no family time anymore. We barely know where are kids are at any given moment, much less WHO they are, deep down... where it counts. Our church youth groups are shrinking at alarming rates. Our family budgets are stretched beyond the limits and our credit cards maxed out because we pay THOUSANDS of dollars for our kids to go to "the next level" in... whatever.
Please... for the love of all that is rational... and good... stop. Be a trendsetter in the opposite direction. Reclaim your freedom. Reclaim your family. Reclaim your life.
Remember how from the 1970's and into the early 1990's women were sold the line that you can have it all? Career. Husband. Kids. Friends. Hobbies. Showcase home. Somewhere in there it went from can have it all to must have it all.
And then sometime in the mid-1990's as I recall, more and more of my friends started hopping off of the career ladder and into full time wife and mom status. We got burned out. We realized that we were holding many titles and delegating most of our duties, including the most sacred... taking care of our husbands and kids and homes.
We came to peace with the fact that we couldn't have it all because we couldn't do it all. Having our lives spread a mile wide and an inch deep stinked, stank, stunk.
Remember that?
OK...
We're doing the same thing to our kids. Here's an excerpt from an article we ran in the first issue of our school magazine. It describes the typical day of an average middle or high school student.
Today’s youth are under unprecedented stress due to the
intensity of their school assignments, extracurricular activities
and social lives. The typical [****] high school student wakes
up at 5:30 a.m. Those who choose to take zero hour classes and
those who participate in morning practices with the marching
band or workouts with sports teams arrive at school in time for a
7:00 a.m. start. School runs until 3:05 p.m. and athletic practices
go for a minimum of two hours, lasting usually until 5:30 p.m.
Then students head home or to work or to volunteer commitments
or to church or to other practices or lessons. After grabbing a
quick dinner on the run, they start homework, often beginning
their assignments at 10:00 p.m. or later, with hours of work to
complete before going to bed. They wrap up homework (and
Facebook) well after midnight, fall asleep for a few short hours,
and wake early the next morning to do it all over again.
I feel comfortable quoting that information because even though the student got the byline, I actually wrote that paragraph. Why ? After trying and trying to get him to elaborate on the idea of teen stress management, I finally gave up. He couldn't string together anything remotely coherent; he was too tired.
Would you care to guess just how many emails I've gotten complaining that having to study for a test or complete a routine homework assignment is interfering with the time the parents have committed their kids to attend dance class - soccer practice - piano lessons - art lessons - voice lessons - play rehearsals - hunting season - whateverelsesomeonehasfiguredtheycanchargeparentsfor? More than I care to count. Every single time I get a complaint, it is linked to how little time the kids have after school for homework because of extracurricular commitments.
I would guess that about 30% of my middle school students and about 80% of my high school students get five or fewer hours of sleep a night. These kids are 12-18 years old! If a generation of well-educated career women couldn't handle "having it all," what on earth makes us think our kids can?
Moms and dads... step up to the plate and be the grown ups. Let the kids be kids. Give them some white space on their calendars. Let them taste new things... don't let them get eaten alive by those things. What we thought were our fun activities are someone else's business. True story. Some great salesmen have convinced us that our kids have to have outside instruction on how to play and be creative and express themselves. They have brainwashed us into thinking our kids need to be doing something away from home constantly and that we need to pay experts to help them do it. They have built an industry out of parental fear and guilt.
At what price? Our kids are exhausted... burned out. We have no family time anymore. We barely know where are kids are at any given moment, much less WHO they are, deep down... where it counts. Our church youth groups are shrinking at alarming rates. Our family budgets are stretched beyond the limits and our credit cards maxed out because we pay THOUSANDS of dollars for our kids to go to "the next level" in... whatever.
Please... for the love of all that is rational... and good... stop. Be a trendsetter in the opposite direction. Reclaim your freedom. Reclaim your family. Reclaim your life.
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