This afternoon as we were sorting through a box of toys and techie junk, we found Jonathan's old circa-2006 cell phone. Its hinges still work great, though, so I gave it to Meg for a toy.
She sat on the couch for a good twenty minutes and had a grand time with it. She might even like it better than my phone, because this one flips open. It's better than any toy cell phone, for sure. She likes to hold it up with her shoulder and chatter. Every now and again she'd try out her new real word -- "Hello."
Sunday, May 29, 2011
My life, in one short paragraph
Me: "Look! Anthropologie's got my table! --except theirs is boring colors and mine is awesome."
Jonathan: "That table over there?" ::points::
Me: "Yes, except it's over there now." ::points the other way::
Jonathan: "Ah, you moved it."
Me: "That's right. I move the table all the time. It's what I do in life. It's like Olivia - she gets up, moves the cat, brushes her teeth, combs her ears, moves the cat. And then she gets dressed and has to try on EVERYTHING!"
Yep. Anthropologie may be a taste-maker these days, but it's got nothing to the power of a board book read fifty times.
Also, my table is awesome. It's mustard yellow. I intended my living room to be red, but I looked around the other day and discovered it was mostly gold tones. Sometimes I surprise even myself.
Jonathan: "That table over there?" ::points::
Me: "Yes, except it's over there now." ::points the other way::
Jonathan: "Ah, you moved it."
Me: "That's right. I move the table all the time. It's what I do in life. It's like Olivia - she gets up, moves the cat, brushes her teeth, combs her ears, moves the cat. And then she gets dressed and has to try on EVERYTHING!"
Yep. Anthropologie may be a taste-maker these days, but it's got nothing to the power of a board book read fifty times.
Also, my table is awesome. It's mustard yellow. I intended my living room to be red, but I looked around the other day and discovered it was mostly gold tones. Sometimes I surprise even myself.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Pirates 4: raiders of the lost fountain
We decided to watch Pirates 4 for our date yesterday. It was pretty good - definitely the best since Pirates 1, though I do think Pirates 1 is still better. But we enjoyed it. It had no Will and Elizabeth drama, a comprehensible plot, and instead of that sea-goddess-whatever nonsense, it involved two very nice, manageable legends: the Fountain of Youth and mermaids. It kept the voodoo to a minimum and actually had quite a bit of Catholic imagery, which lent a nice solidity to its metaphysics. I really liked the Spanish Catholics - they added a lot and had comprehensible motives and everything. It would have been a better movie if they'd gotten the Christianity a little better; but I was happy to take what I could get.
Pirates 4 was actually channeling Indiana Jones for a while, between the searches for relics, Grail-like chalices, and (SPOILER!) the bad guy melting away for choosing... poorly.
Abby mentioned to me to keep an eye out for the missionary to see what I thought of him. I kind of liked him. He had spunk. And he was very buff, not to mention incapable of keeping his shirt on, which made me laugh. (What? A missionary who doesn't look like a string bean? You mean missionaries are people too?) He was slightly shrill, and I'm not sure why he couldn't fall in love with the mermaid and keep a solid grip on his theology, but whatever. If mermaids are human enough to love, surely they need Jesus too? Jonathan didn't like that subplot; he couldn't get over the "sociopathic vampire" part of their character. Picky, picky.
Also, the missionary's Jesus was too small to save Blackbeard, but then the missionary might have just been trying to annoy him. The Jesus I'm acquainted with is plenty big enough to save even a pirate. Gasp. John Newton was a slaver and the Apostle Paul himself was a murderer, so there's precedent. The whole point of "being saved" is that you can't do more evil things than Jesus has already paid for. Even if you crisp hapless crew members and have a scary beard and magic remote-control-sword/hat-combo like Blackbeard does. Jesus is just that awesome. But despite its theological shortcomings, I kind of liked the movie.
Pirates 4 was actually channeling Indiana Jones for a while, between the searches for relics, Grail-like chalices, and (SPOILER!) the bad guy melting away for choosing... poorly.
Abby mentioned to me to keep an eye out for the missionary to see what I thought of him. I kind of liked him. He had spunk. And he was very buff, not to mention incapable of keeping his shirt on, which made me laugh. (What? A missionary who doesn't look like a string bean? You mean missionaries are people too?) He was slightly shrill, and I'm not sure why he couldn't fall in love with the mermaid and keep a solid grip on his theology, but whatever. If mermaids are human enough to love, surely they need Jesus too? Jonathan didn't like that subplot; he couldn't get over the "sociopathic vampire" part of their character. Picky, picky.
Also, the missionary's Jesus was too small to save Blackbeard, but then the missionary might have just been trying to annoy him. The Jesus I'm acquainted with is plenty big enough to save even a pirate. Gasp. John Newton was a slaver and the Apostle Paul himself was a murderer, so there's precedent. The whole point of "being saved" is that you can't do more evil things than Jesus has already paid for. Even if you crisp hapless crew members and have a scary beard and magic remote-control-sword/hat-combo like Blackbeard does. Jesus is just that awesome. But despite its theological shortcomings, I kind of liked the movie.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
I've been baby-proofing
Yikes, I haven't posted much this month, have I? Graduation really knocked it out of me, getting ready for it and then recovering. Also, now that Jonathan is home doing bar-prep full time, we're having to re-work our house arrangement. Specifically, we both want to keep our computers on the desk downstairs, which gets cozy.
This is made more interesting by another necessary round of baby-proofing. Meg has learned to climb up onto chairs and the couch! I'm just busting out with maternal pride. I remember loving to scramble around when I was younger, especially outside on convenient rocks and trees and things. However, inside, Meg now wants to climb further up the chair back and take everything off the shelves and probably fall off and land on her head, which as a conscientious parent I can't really allow. Hence baby-proofing. What we really need is a full set of built-in bookshelves with lockable glass doors, but I think they'll have to wait. Anyway, the point was it's been harder to compute and therefore blog. We'll find a rhythm soon.
This is made more interesting by another necessary round of baby-proofing. Meg has learned to climb up onto chairs and the couch! I'm just busting out with maternal pride. I remember loving to scramble around when I was younger, especially outside on convenient rocks and trees and things. However, inside, Meg now wants to climb further up the chair back and take everything off the shelves and probably fall off and land on her head, which as a conscientious parent I can't really allow. Hence baby-proofing. What we really need is a full set of built-in bookshelves with lockable glass doors, but I think they'll have to wait. Anyway, the point was it's been harder to compute and therefore blog. We'll find a rhythm soon.
Car stickers
Babble alerted me to the awesomest family car stickers ever. I'm with the blogger: those little stick figures with the kids' names are kind of creepy. But stormtroopers? With hair bows? The only thing that would be cooler would be if they were Mando helmets. And if you know what I'm talking about, you are a true fan.
Ohhh yeah.
Ohhh yeah.
Monday, May 16, 2011
We are graduated
Jonathan finished up law school and graduated last weekend. Congratulations! As of tonight we know that he passed his toughest class - of course he was going to, but it's good to hear it for sure. His parents and my sister and her husband were all able to come out for it, and we had a party. We strung up paper lanterns and made ice cream and everything.
On Sunday, we took Emily and Ryan to Maymont to see the otters and gardens. I've been wanting them to see it for a long time, because those otters are just that awesome. While we were there, we took gorgeous photos of each other (including some mushy ones of me and Jonathan!), which was pretty entertaining.
We spent the rest of the week recovering. We found some necessary clothes on good sales, including jeans and black pants for Jonathan. Nana watched Meg and let me go to the post office all by myself - ooh, the excitement! I even got to go to the library and check out grown-up books. On Saturday we split a giant cinnamon roll at the mall, and in the evening went to a surprise birthday party through a massive rainstorm. On Sunday I wore a new hot pink maxi dress (with orange polka dots, yes indeedy) to church, a young marrieds lunch, and the beach - loved it.
And then today, Meg and I did laundry and grocery shopping, and Jonathan got started on his bar prep course. So that's what we've been up to.
On Sunday, we took Emily and Ryan to Maymont to see the otters and gardens. I've been wanting them to see it for a long time, because those otters are just that awesome. While we were there, we took gorgeous photos of each other (including some mushy ones of me and Jonathan!), which was pretty entertaining.
We spent the rest of the week recovering. We found some necessary clothes on good sales, including jeans and black pants for Jonathan. Nana watched Meg and let me go to the post office all by myself - ooh, the excitement! I even got to go to the library and check out grown-up books. On Saturday we split a giant cinnamon roll at the mall, and in the evening went to a surprise birthday party through a massive rainstorm. On Sunday I wore a new hot pink maxi dress (with orange polka dots, yes indeedy) to church, a young marrieds lunch, and the beach - loved it.
And then today, Meg and I did laundry and grocery shopping, and Jonathan got started on his bar prep course. So that's what we've been up to.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Bin Laden and marriage - two current events in one post!
I found out about the royal wedding myself, but Jonathan shared the news about Bin Laden's death this morning before I even had my coffee. WOO!
We are delighted. To those who have moral objections about the death penalty: some actions are deserving of death. It's a justice thing. It's not about lashing out in anger or deterrence or closure or various other things it might incidentally do; some crimes are worth dying for. His qualified. I hope he repented, and God will mercifully and justly sort him out. Glad that's not my job.
That being said, the Navy SEALS who did the raid were AWESOME. And I would be totally in favor of an Osama Down Day every May 1st, like a Guy Fawkes day. I'll buy fireworks!
I also think Homeland Security needs to drastically step down airport security, especially if they want to save the airline industry. This demonstrated (like Israel's been doing for years) that the way to prevent terrorism is by good intelligence, not strip-searching four-year-olds. We refuse to fly until they become rational again, and we're not the only ones.
Everybody's been posting their two cents, of course, but I liked this article from Heavenfield. It's a medievalist's take on the importance of proving your enemy's really dead. :-)
As for the wedding, I'm delighted about that too. Heavenfield had another fun post on "peace-weaving" royal marriages. She pointed out that first Prince Charles and now William married British women, strengthening the monarchy's ties to its own people.
Christian websites have all been taking the opportunity to talk about marriage in general. Jonathan pointed me to this post from Touchstone linking an article on David Hume's defense of one-man-one-woman marriage from a rationalist standpoint. He ties it to freedom. Yes, that David Hume.
"David Hume! The guy currently wearing a toga in Edinburgh! Mr. There's-No-Causality himself!" Jonathan
I'm going to take the opportunity to talk about an article I read last week in a Richmond Families magazine. I picked it up expecting storytime schedules, and got three pages on why all tweens need to be vaccinated with Gardasil, the cervical cancer prevention drug. Yes, you read that right. Tweens.
I read the entire article, just in case the author had a good reason. I will assume that their studies are correct and Gardasil really does prevent 85-95% of all cases of the virus/cancer, and further assume that it doesn't have any nasty side effects that surface ten or thirty or fifty years later.
But their assumptions were telling. The only way to know your child's partners are STI-free is if both remain virgins until marriage and 100% monogamous until death. This is said in a "boy are you naive to think that" tone of voice. Teens make poor choices, so parents need to prepare them.
Let's think about that a minute. We have here a risky behavior with numerous health issues. We can spend $360 per person for prior immunizations and untold millions in cleanup costs; or we can change behavior.
Smoking: change behavior! No doctor is shy about ordering you to quit.
Alcoholism: change behavior!
Obesity: change behavior!
Promiscuity: Well, of course your teenager is going to make poor decisions. We couldn't expect them to wait until they're adults, could we? Or wait until marriage? And asking adults to refrain from promiscuity? How ridiculous and backward. Never mind that chastity is 100% effective at preventing all STIs.
Our culture is so weird.
And this post is quite long enough, so I'll leave you with that. Thanks for reading.
We are delighted. To those who have moral objections about the death penalty: some actions are deserving of death. It's a justice thing. It's not about lashing out in anger or deterrence or closure or various other things it might incidentally do; some crimes are worth dying for. His qualified. I hope he repented, and God will mercifully and justly sort him out. Glad that's not my job.
That being said, the Navy SEALS who did the raid were AWESOME. And I would be totally in favor of an Osama Down Day every May 1st, like a Guy Fawkes day. I'll buy fireworks!
I also think Homeland Security needs to drastically step down airport security, especially if they want to save the airline industry. This demonstrated (like Israel's been doing for years) that the way to prevent terrorism is by good intelligence, not strip-searching four-year-olds. We refuse to fly until they become rational again, and we're not the only ones.
Everybody's been posting their two cents, of course, but I liked this article from Heavenfield. It's a medievalist's take on the importance of proving your enemy's really dead. :-)
As for the wedding, I'm delighted about that too. Heavenfield had another fun post on "peace-weaving" royal marriages. She pointed out that first Prince Charles and now William married British women, strengthening the monarchy's ties to its own people.
Christian websites have all been taking the opportunity to talk about marriage in general. Jonathan pointed me to this post from Touchstone linking an article on David Hume's defense of one-man-one-woman marriage from a rationalist standpoint. He ties it to freedom. Yes, that David Hume.
"David Hume! The guy currently wearing a toga in Edinburgh! Mr. There's-No-Causality himself!" Jonathan
I'm going to take the opportunity to talk about an article I read last week in a Richmond Families magazine. I picked it up expecting storytime schedules, and got three pages on why all tweens need to be vaccinated with Gardasil, the cervical cancer prevention drug. Yes, you read that right. Tweens.
I read the entire article, just in case the author had a good reason. I will assume that their studies are correct and Gardasil really does prevent 85-95% of all cases of the virus/cancer, and further assume that it doesn't have any nasty side effects that surface ten or thirty or fifty years later.
But their assumptions were telling. The only way to know your child's partners are STI-free is if both remain virgins until marriage and 100% monogamous until death. This is said in a "boy are you naive to think that" tone of voice. Teens make poor choices, so parents need to prepare them.
Let's think about that a minute. We have here a risky behavior with numerous health issues. We can spend $360 per person for prior immunizations and untold millions in cleanup costs; or we can change behavior.
Smoking: change behavior! No doctor is shy about ordering you to quit.
Alcoholism: change behavior!
Obesity: change behavior!
Promiscuity: Well, of course your teenager is going to make poor decisions. We couldn't expect them to wait until they're adults, could we? Or wait until marriage? And asking adults to refrain from promiscuity? How ridiculous and backward. Never mind that chastity is 100% effective at preventing all STIs.
Our culture is so weird.
And this post is quite long enough, so I'll leave you with that. Thanks for reading.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
