Conquering (Causing) Contraversy

By adding to it. Because you are all meanies and not commenting. I love comments, please comment.

- Feminists are evil. Everything in the world is their fault.
- The Song of Songs. Is Solomon emo, or what?
- Eccelsiastes. Further proof of Solomon's emo-ness.
- My harp. Coolest instrument ever. Especially out of tune.
- Proverbs 18:22. Needs to be read by every single boy in church. (Pun intended)
- Genesis 1-11. Literal. (Kallie plans death threats...)
- Joab's car. Shiny again, belongs to me and Kal.
- Boys should wear make-up. Continually, every day (contraversy supplied by Kal, all others are mine)

Please comment, I'm getting lonely.... ;{

I Have A Harp

I have a harp. It is very out of tune. I've been spending the past hour or so alternative between tuning it and surfing the net. Tuning it is hard, for a few reasons:

1. I've never tuned a harp before.
2. I've never tuned any instruments before.
3. I have nothing to compare my strings to.

So, I'm tuning my harp via a combination of my kids glockenspiel and my knowledge of Do-Mi-Mi from Sound of Music. Stop laughing. I'm not funny.

However, even my out of tune harp sounds cool when I run my fingers over the strings. Which is a relief. Because I think it's going to be out of tune fore a while.

Robspierre and Danton

There were two people you never tried to bribe in revolutionary France. Robspierre and Danton. Robspierre would refuse on principle - and probably have your head cut off later. Danton for different reasons. He apparently took every bribe he was offereed - and did precisely what he wanted.

I've been thinking about me and my room leader, Helen. She's a Robspierre. She won't let the kids throw temper tantrums. She jsut won't.

Me, I'm a Danton. I let the kids throw as many temper tantrums as they want. I'll let them scream and cry and try to whack me. But I don't buckle. Once they've done their screaming, they do what I say. I'm perfectly capable of making a kids sit for two and a half hours until they have eaten their corn. I know, I've done it.

Which is better? Don't know, they're just different. The actual Robspierre and Danton both got executed. But hey, you can't have everything... :P

More on my harp

At church, I told EVERYONE, "I bought a harp!"

The immediate response was always, "You play the harp!"

"No."

For some reason, people expect that when you buy a musical instrument from eBay, that you can actually play this instrument. People are weird that way.

I look like a school girl...

So, at church I was talking. And Sam-who-lives-with-Ian-Lim said that I looked like a school girl.

And then Joab said that I looked very young. I pointed out that Sam had already said that I looked like I school girl. Joab said, "I never would have said that; I have more tact."

Which is true. Which is why I didn't hit him.

Keith then said, "Upper secondary? Or a mature lower secondary?"

I did hit him.

So, what exactly was it that made me look like a school girl? I don't mind it precisely, but I'd like to be able to harness my school girl-super power at will rather than haphazedly.

Kallie Scares Me For A Moment

Reb has a lot of statues of cats. A LOT. Lots and lots. Some of them are spooky. And then, like two minutes ago, she started bringing out more.

Kal and I were scared.

Kal found a solution. "I'll put up posters of boys to offset the cats!"

Reb said, "Ugh, no Orlando Bloom, I get enough of him from my sister."

Kal said, "No, boys with make-up."

It wasn't until I was laughing hysterically that she realised what she had said. And then she clarified. Joab, there will be no posters of you wearing make-up in our house. Sorry, it just ain't going to happen.

Sam Rich, Sam Poor

I am a harp and five books (only one on the harp) richer. And about $340 poorer.

On to my reading!

My Harps

The one I would like:

The first of these two. It is so much prettier than the other one.

The one I'll probably get:

On Music and the Harp

I'm also doing a music seminar in Sept (two related ones to be precise). It will be awesome. It better be - they are costing me a lot.

Plus I want a harp. I am going to buy one. I am determined.

I don't know whether to get a 22 string one for around $250 or to try and get a 34 string one for a whole lot more. 34 string would be a whole lot cooler, but it would create a considerably less cool hold in my bank account.

I don't know how to play the harp. I do not care. I will learn. Because the harp is way cool.

General Update - A Week Off

As a few of you know, I've been not very well recently. And as most of you who know me well have realised that as I haven't complained very much (for me) I'm actually quite bad. (As a general rule, the worse I am the less likely you are to hear about it.)

Most of the problem is due to sleep. Well, due to lack of sleep. I'm getting between 3 and 5 hours a night, as I'm waking up several times with asthma attacks. Amy suggested sleeping pills. I told her I didn't think I wanted to sleep through an asthma attack.

I took Wed off this week. They were expecting me to take Thurs off too. I should have, but didn't. Today was very not fun.

As a result, I'm taking a week of leave in early August - the 11th to the 15th. I'm going to sleep in, take naps, and read books.

So that explains a few things.

And hopefully will change the adds that are up at the moment.

The No-Cheaters Club

Kal and Alicia have started a very exclusive club. It is open to only people who have never cheated in school.

Kal is a member. Alicia is a member. And from their care-group, only Chris is also a member. That means their shepherd, Mavis, is NOT a member. She is a cheater.

Amy is a cheater too.

We then ask Reb if she was able to be a member, predicting that she would. She said, "I cheated in CDS once."

We all nearly DIED. She cheated in Christian Development School! In a missions class too. (Reb is going on a international mission trip in Sept.)

Kal wants me to point out that most of the leaders, and the spiritiually mature ones have cheated. Amy would like to highlight the grace of God in their lives

So, my question is, are you all members of the No-Cheaters Club?

Christians and non-Christians are BOTH invited to comment. It'd be interesting.

Even My TV Has A Biological Clock

It does. We found it whilst trying to find a way to watch the ABC.

For Kal

This is what Charles the First looks like:

If I were pregnant, this all would make sense

Last night, I was sitting in the kitchen with Kal, and I decided I wanted food. Not just any food, I wanted avocado and chocolate. Mixed together. I was desperate for it. I even asked Reb if we could go out and BUY avocados and chocolate. She said no. Apparently 8:30PM is not the best time to ask Reb to take me out to buy weird foods.

This morning, I thought about the avocado and chocolate, and I nearly vomitted.

Now it sounds really good again. Really, really good. I would go out and buy, but I have training that starts in just a little while. And it's nearly 6 and so all the shops are shut.

Avocado merigue would be nice too.

Weird food cravings would make so much more sense if I were pregnant.

Review

I read Kelly's e-book "Relaxed Homeschooling". I'm a future homeschooling mother. Future mother too. Future wife before that. But I've been planning to homeschool since I was 10 (for my reasons see here) So I've been preparing for quite a while.

Overall, I liked the book. It was a good synopsis of the reasons for homeschooling, and what is important about homeschooling. So it was good.

Bits I loved:
"Our culture is a noisy one where we feel the need to be constantly entertained, busy or occupied. This same “busy mode” can rob our children of an important part of education. A child's soul cannot grow without some silence and solitude."

"A lifestyle of learning is mostly a matter of paying attention to opportunities. What questions are they asking? What questions can you ask them? Many times my children will ask a question that I don't know the answer to. It can be tempting (and sometimes is necessary) to put them off with an “I don't know”. But it's much better to say, “I don't know...but come with me and we'll find the answer!”
Between books that we continually collect, the library, the dictionary and the Internet, we can usually find the answer we're looking for! Get into the habit of asking questions and finding answers. This is really the foundation for all learning!"

"We make a tragic mistake assuming that the Bible is too hard for our little ones to understand, and thus postpone the daily reading of it to them. It's fine to read the children's version of Jonah and the Whale, but be sure to read the original story from the Bible too."


Here was the few things I didn't like about it:
- She quotes Thomas H. Huxley. The quote was good, but he's hadly a person a Christian writer should be quoting.
- Facts are vital pegs on which to hang other information. Yes, people get over the top about it, but we need to not go the other way and discount them. I don't think that was Kelly's intention, but it could be read that way.

Mostly, I really enjoyed it. Stop by at Generation Cedar and buy the e-book.

Kids on my hair

Emily:
"Did you wash your hair Sam? Because you need to wash it. It's too flat."

Rebekah:
"I love your hair like that Sam!" (in pig-tails - i.e. two bunches) "It makes you look just like a kid!"

Chloe:
Amy asked Chloe what colour my hair was. "White!" she said. Oh the bright side, when asked what colour Kal's hair was, Chloe replied, "Her hair white too!"

Clowns are funny

After BTF, Shaun asked me how he should wash the clown costumes. I suggested that he hand wash his, as there was a wire through it. (Sophie's could go though the machine though.)

He looked at me blankly, and said: "You mean at a river with stones?"

I replied that that wasn't strictly necessary, and the sink would be fine.

I am not delicate... but apparently I am hot

At church a few Sundays ago (because I haven't posted for a REALLY long time) I was helping Reb carry book boxes to the car. And so as happens, the boys started getting concerned about me and Kal carrying large amounts of boxes.

(Incidentally, I found carrying a box of rocks easier than Derrick did. And I was wearing heels and a skirt.)

So Jason came up to me and said, "I'll carry the boxes, you look delicate."

If I hadn't been carrying the boxes, I would have hit him. Then he would have realised that that was the wrong thing to say. Boys should never point out that you LOOK delicate. It's a bad idea. You can carry stuff for us, but be careful what you say, because translation into girl language was: "You are weak. And worse, you look dreadful. So let me carry the boxes."

I glared at him and told him off. Then Shaun tried to carry the boxes. He asked properly. But I was cross because of Jason. And then Lionel wanted to also carry them. "Just take them," said Kal, "She won't give them to you otherwise."


On a completely unrelated subject, there is apparently a conversation on facebook about how hot I am. It all comes from a photo of my from Steph's wedding.


Anyway, sorry for the lack of blogging. BTF combined with no internet at home. Spells doom.

Kallie plans my death

On Sun, last last Sun, Kal, Reb and I went to see Prince Caspian. And aside from the love interest between Susan and Caspian, it was okay. Nothing like the book, but okay. But they even KISSED. And then Caspian tried to get more. This is NARNIA for heaven's sake! Disturbing.

Anyway, in the fight scenes, Susan is shooting off arrow after arrow after arrow. I nudged Kallie and said, "I wonder why her quiver's always full?"

Kallie looked at me and said, "You are banned from ever using the word quiver again."

I didn't mean it that way. But I could spin on it and work out an interpreation of the movie from a quiverful perspective if Kal wants. Hey, I was an arts student - talking nonsense (especially about books and film) is what I do best.