Saturday Stream, Not As Late As It Feels

We had football pictures at 8am. I still feel like I am asleep, and it's now 11. Sam is taking the boys to weigh ins and then to sell popcorn. Note to self: Do not order $2K worth of show-and-sell popcorn in an economic downturn, or whatever they're calling it today.

This week, I found lots of articles that support an idea that has been rolling around in my head ever since I started reading "The Underground History of American Education." One of the first books that I ever read that encouraged me to not send my kids off to the institutionalized, government-run, brick and mortar school was John Taylor Gatto's Dumbing Us Down.

Basically, and I'll try to put my thoughts into words that make sense, the idea of school being paid for and therefore, run by the government is tantamount to indoctrination. There. I've said it. No taking it back now. (Unless I delete this post, like I did the last one.) For centuries, whenever a government wanted a certain outcome from its citizenry, they educated the young in the manner which suited their cause. The Spartans are a good, although extreme, example. Boys were taken from their homes at 7 years old and put in "schools" where they were taught how to fight. More recently was 1930's and '40's Germany. It is still illegal to teach your children at home, in Germany.

Our country's forefathers encouraged education of the public. They believed that having an educated populace was the best measure against tyranny. The government did not run schools then.

The articles that I came across were:

• The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthcare (thanks CCG) When we believe that we are "entitled" to an education, then the next "logical" step is that we think we are entitled to health care. BTW, you're not, you are entitled to PURSUE education and health care, not have it provided for you at someone else's expense. 

• MIT Calls Academia's Bluff   

• A Study on Online Education at the Cato Institute's Blog

• I Would Rather You Just Said "Thank You" to Private Schools...

• Is $19,000 Per Student Enough... (We budget about $2000 a year to educate all three of out boys. That includes all outside classes, sports and in-home curriculum.)
  

I see education more and more as an issue of freedom. I see kids coming out of public school with an entitlement mentality. What's even worse are the parents who insist that sending their kids to school where they not only should receive a free education, but free lunch and breakfast to boot.

The American Dream used to be that you could work hard and make something for, and of, yourself. I think the new American Dream is that you can skate through life and still have the same stuff as your neighbor. 

Last Sunday we had two ladies, both homeschool moms, come talk to our congregation about freedom. One of them spoke from Nehemiah and the other one taught on American History and the Constitution. It was so satisfying to sit and watch these two homeschool moms minister this message to adults. It was more amazing to sit in the back of the room and literally see lightbulbs going off in adults' brains.

I was also made aware that this organization is run by a homeschool mom.

This is so fantastic! In seeking truth to teach their kids, homeschool moms are being led (I believe by the Holy Spirit) to minister these truths to those they have influence over. It's very exciting.

The inscription on the Liberty Bell quotes Leviticus 25:10

 

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

– Leviticus 25:10

 In the Name of Jesus, I speak LIBERTY to all!!

worship This Week

Praise the King of Kings

Praise the Lord of Lords

Your blood is so precious, worth more than anything I know

Get It Out of My System

Hopefully, I will be able to move on today. It's too early for high blood pressure.

Healthcare is not a right that is given to you by the government. Healthcare is a personal choice. Our country is not run by people's feelings. Our country is governed by laws. The ultimate law of our country is the Constitution. You will not find anything about healthcare (or education, for that matter, but that's probably another post) in the Constitution. What you will find are 10 amendments that we call the Bill of Rights. These were added after the Constitution was written to ensure that the federal government would not trample people's rights. Like the right to choose healthcare. Number 10 of those amendments says,

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively,
or to the people.

There should not be debates about who's funding this, or end of life care, or rationing, or the demise of private health insurance. The debate should be that this is not something which the federal government should be proposing at all.

Fix health care? I have 8 nieces and nephews whose births (and their mother's prenatal care) were all paid for by government healthcare. I have a friend who died from cancer whose healthcare bills were paid for by a private fund. every.penny. My father-in-law spent the last 5 years of his life on 100% VA health benefits. His widow is now on 100% VA healthcare. Every emergency room that I have ever walked into, and with three "real boys" you can bet that I have walked into a few, has a sign stating that no one will be turned away due to inability to pay. Fix what we already have. 


OK, I think I got it out of my system. Now I can enjoy my testosterone-free weekend.

nope. AND another thing! I'm tired of the convenient mis-use of the command "Love your neighbor" as a pro-government funded, healthcare argument. Jesus was answering the question, "What is the greatest command?" He said that loving your neighbor was second, not number one. How bout if we're going to start quoting the Bible in the public arena, we quote all of it? Love the Lord God is the most important command.

Ok, I'll quit reading the news, (and Facebook) now.

We dun caught us a 'coon Ma!

(WARNING! If you are squeamish, or you think raccoons are cute, furry, woodland creatures, you might not want to read this.)
(Warning: I will try to make this post coherent, but I'm not crossing my fingers, so you don't either. The incident happened 24 hours ago. A lot has happened since then, like sleeping.)

I shared last week that I indulged the youngers in a live animal trap at Goodwill. Several years ago, the boys borrowed one from a friend and caught a rather large raccoon. Sam shot it with a .22. They skinned it and hung the pelt on their bedroom wall. (We did NOT eat it. The subject did come up. I told Sam I would put the house up for sale if they tried to cook that thing in my kitchen.) Since then, they have looked at trapping sites on a weekly basis. They have tried to build their own traps and they have talked about saving money to buy one. The Goodwill trap was too good a deal to pass up.

Every night, they faithfully set it up. Quinton begged me to save some disgusting trash when I was cleaning out the fridge. I did and double-sealed it in two zip-loc bags.

Every morning they go check the trap. They had the neighbors cat a couple of mornings ago. Yesterday, they had a 'coon.

When they got the trap, there was much discussion over how they would kill whatever they caught in it. Quinton got a drum stick and was going to sharpen it and use that to stab whatever was in the trap. I talked him out of that. Dad would just have to shoot whatever they caught, or -here's an idea- let the animal go. He looked at me like I was the silliest person he ever saw. "Let it go...why would we trap an animal to let it go?"

They came running in yesterday morning to announce that they'd caught a 'coon. Their first plan was to save it in there until Sam came home. Which would be around 6 pm tonight. Um no. To keep an animal in the trap for a day and a half is just cruel. OK, then, they'd have to kill it. Quinton got a broad tipped arrow out of his bow case. "What are you going to do with that?" I had to ask, I would be a bad mom if I didn't ask. He told me he was going to stab it in the head. Hmm...what kind of crazy, red necked child am I raising?

He ran back outside, not with the arrow, I am pleased to say. I called Noah to me and formulated a plan where he would "accidentally" let the animal go. Quinton came back in to tell me when they got out there, one of the men who was working on the house was out there poking it with a piece of rebar and asking if he could have it. Quinton told him no and then told me he thinks the man wants to take it home for food. blech!

We then had a back and forth "discussion" about whether attempting to stab it in the head with an arrow would be a clean kill, or not. I appealed to his outdoors man ethics and he agreed to let it go. whew!

They set it up again last night. They are still asleep while I'm writing this, so I don't know if anything is trapped in the trap. Their plan is to hold any animal, except the neighbor's cat, in the trap until dad gets home tonight.

At Least We Got Groceries

I finally made it to the grocery store today. I went with no list. I stayed in budget. We'll see if I bought enough food. I did the walk-around-the-perimeter-for-the-bulk-of-your-shopping-thing. Supposedly that is healthier than buying most of your food in the aisles. Don't get me wrong, we still bought some boxed, bagged and canned food. I tell you this so that you can feel my pain in the story I am about to tell.

Obviously Noah grows quickly. Before he went to camp, I pulled all his clothes out of his dresser and closet and told him to try on everything and bring me anything that was too small. He brought me several pairs of jeans, some shorts that he won't wear and no t-shirts. That boy loves his t-shirts. There is a new store that buys "teen" clothes. So I traveled all the way over there. They were busy. She took my 4 measely items and told me it would be two hours. Fine, I said, I have other shopping to do. Two hours later, our name was not on the board. So I went home.

Before I finish that story...I have a related story that also happened to me today. The middle boy grows, at what I imagine, is a normal rate. (As opposed to the other two boy, kudzu vines.) He only needs new shoes once a year, maybe twice. I almost never need to buy him any pants. He gets Noah's, which are still in good shape because he only wore them a week.

Football practice started last week. We had 6 pairs of cleats in the attic. One fit him. Yay! not. The glue gave way during practice. Now, I needed to buy him more cleats. They started practicing in pads yesterday. We had two pair of practice pants that looked like moths ate the knees away. I sent M and Q to practice in the holey pants anyway. Moe's knee pads kept coming out. I decided I would just move money around and go sell all those cleats. So I drove all the way to Austin to sell them at the sports store that buys used sports equipment. Guess what they don't buy anymore? Cleats. AND they didn't have any football cleats in Q's size and don't even think about putting him in baseball cleats (like I'm doing with Moe.) And then, I nearly smacked the smart alec boy at Academy when I went to get their pants.

"Can I help you?"
"Yes, I want two pair of cheap, white, small practice pants." He hands me a $24 pair. I actually laughed at him.
"These are $24, I'm  not spending $50 on practice pants." So he points to the cheap rack, on which are mixed several pairs of the $24 ones. He hands me two smalls. One is $24.
"These are the $24 ones."
"Oh, they have pads already in them." As if that would convince me to buy them.
"No they don't."
"Yes, they do."
"NO. they. don't. I just want two pair of cheap, white, youth smalls."He looked closely at the $24 to figure out why they cost twice as much as the ones I want to buy. I explained to him that they are made out of thicker, shinier fabric. Now, I don't like to generalize about men here. But men DO like shiny things. And I guess that includes football pants.

In the meantime, I found the ones I wanted myself. Shiny-loving salesdude proceeded to follow me around the store. Where ever I went, there he was. "Listen buddy, I'm no amateur, bug off." No, I didn't really say that. Instead, I proceeded to dance to the music because it embarrasses Noah.

$44 and two and a half hours later, I am hoping that this cool, new, resale store gives me good cash for the jeans I brought in, since we didn't budget for football equipment this week. One of the benefits to Noah's extraordinary growth is that he doesn't wear clothes out. I'm thinking these are primo denim purchases for this tiny, busy store.

They did not have our order ready and I had to get our groceries home. I went back(If I didn't go back they would donate our clothes to Goodwill and this is a 30 mile round trip) after I dropped the boys off at practice in their new pants and cleats. Can you believe they refused to buy our jeans. They are not "in style."

hmph! 

Our jeans looked a lot better than these $200 jeans.

Wedding /Trap

We overnighted in Abilene, Texas this weekend for my cousin's wedding. You can imagine the fun that was had with the three, human cyclones. Sam pretty much let them run around wherever they felt like running around to. The motel's computer, the field behind the motel, the pool and up and down the stairs. I fretted they were going to kick us out. They didn't, no one even complained.

The motel did not have the cot that I requested. So Noah borrowed a pool, lounge chair to sleep on. Not at the pool. He carried it up to our room. He says it was not comfortable. I say it was better than the floor.
I mentioned a field behind the motel. Noah visited it first. He has bad 14 year old wanderlust. He will just wander out of our house, and I won't even realize he's gone. He came back in about 5 minutes and announced that 10 feet into the field, he saw three snakes.

That prompted Quinton and Moe to run as fast as they could, football in hand, to the field. When they came back, Q says, "That's not a field, it's just a patch of grass." To which Noah replied, "Also known as a field." I love these witty comebacks. Even Moe and Quinton found the field too dangerous to play in. It apparently doubles as a dump.

We only stay in the nicest establishments.

The wedding was lovely. The bride and groom were beaming. My aunt and uncle seemed to hold themselves together very well. And my 14 year old cousin was just beautiful. The boys tell me they hardly recognized her. "She looked like a lady!"

No major shenanigans to report from the reception. I warned Noah not to eat too much. He didn't. There was a brief incident with ice throwing. But nothing came of it.

We invented games to play on the ride home. The license plate game in the middle of a Texas back road is pretty boring. They played some spelling game which they swear is a real game. I found it funny because Noah is the only decent speller out of the four who were playing. I was the spelling consultant, because I thought the game was pretty dumb.

Live trap update: the boys caught the neighbor's cat. We released it.

Boy Stories

If you ask me "How are you doing?" I will always tell you. I most likely will not say, "Fine," unless I am actually "fine." I have a new thing about not saying "fine," saying, "Well, thank you," instead.

I walked down (literally, it's in a little valley) to the football field to watch the end of football practice and take the boys home. (Don't judge me for not staying and watching the whole practice. I RARELY leave them there alone. I had things to do.) Anyway... This lady that we know asked me, "How are you doing?" So I told her that I'm frustrated over this computer thing that's driving me crazy. And she said to me, "I bet your house is always fun." She was referring to the fact that we have all boys who are known for being "all boy." (She has boys too. I guess she just has better control than I do.) And I don't know what about my frustration elicited her "fun house" comment. Now, that I think about it, I'm kinda offended.

So I decided to entertain her and tell her a couple of stories. Here's one.

Yesterday, we traveled from Goodwill to Goodwill in an attempt to find a corner computer desk. I found several that I wouldn't put my computer on. At the last store, they found a live animal trap. It looked nearly new and it was only $15. So I bought it for them. They are planning on putting it in the woods to trap small animals. (It was empty this morning. I think they scared all the small animals off a long time ago.)

One time they caught a racoon. Boy! was he ANGRY! His gross pelt now hangs in Quinton's room. Other boys are awed by it. The carcass? Cooking it came up. There are some animals that God said not to eat, that I agree with him on. Racoons are one of them. ::shiver::


The desk? I had to stop shopping because there was no room left in the trunk.

Saturday Stream, Evening Edition

Pop Warner football started today. I had to be there at 7:30 for a parent meeting. Practice started at 8. When I got home just after 11, I went to sleep for a couple of hours. Then, I started laundry. Then, Noah asked if he could meet his friend at the movies and would I take him? So that's why Saturday Stream is happening at 8:30 pm, instead of 8:30 am. You didn't know that, didja?

When I was in 6th grade, my parents let me go to the movies by myself with my friends. We even walked there. I'm not sure if it is just now coming up with Noah, or what. This is the first time he's gone to the movies by himself. The original plan that he wanted us to let him do was to "hang out" at the strip center where the cinema is. Uh no. Sorry, dude. Been there, done that. We know the trouble that can happen and it ain't happen' with you.

Football practice went very well for a first day. The team is 4th, 5th and 6th graders. Moe and Quinton are on the same team for the first time since they played flag football. No one whined. No one sat on the ground and refused to move. The coaches this year seem more laid back and vow to work on fundamentals and fun, not proving themselves. They are all new to coaching Pop Warner. I pray it goes well. I put off signing them up until one of the board members called and begged. For one thing, I paid for several camps this summer. Not to mention unexpected doctor bills. The other thing was that last year was such a bad experience, I didn't want to subject the boys or myself to bad coaches and parents again. The team has about 2/3's return players and as far as I can see, none of their parents are the ones that I was wanting to avoid.

If you are reading this on a feed reader, you need to check out my actual blog. I uploaded a new profile pic that I made on Scrapblog.

I was going to take a picture of laundry mountain, but it fell over before I got back to the kitchen with my camera. It came up to my chest! There were several pairs of clean underwear, football jerseys that haven't been worn in years and a Slim Jim in the laundry. So far, only two nickels. Not sure that Slim Jim will be any good after being through Tide. I'm sure Noah would eat it anyway. Does anyone else find clean, folded laundry in their laundry pile?