Book 7 (minor spoilers)

I've been thinking about the book for a few days now. Frankly, I miss Hogwarts; the seventh book spends very little time at the school and it has a different feel because of it. But it was a satisfying ending to the series; often unexpected (for me, at least), but very satisfying. All the subplots, even some themes and characters that had been dropped--and left, I thought--in previous books were picked up and concluded in this one. The main characters have matured a lot; I love how Neville in particular has grown. (His character arc reminds me of Eustace Scrubb's, but that's another story...) We do lose some characters, too; I won't say which; but between that and the many other manifestations of the love the characters have for one other, this a moving story to read. I have only ever cried once while reading a book, but this one had me watery-eyed in a couple spots. The climax was all that could be wished for, and yet (as in Lord of the Rings) the fate of the world hangs not on might nor power, but on the little things too small for the Dark Lord to notice. (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING: Highlight to read, but only if you've read the book!) Or rather on the one great thing, Love. Harry sacrifices himself, not for the cause, but for the sake of his friends; Hogwarts and the Order risk open war, not in an attempt to defeat Voldemort themselves, but simply because Harry needs their help; Snape, we finally learn, was redeemed because of his love for one person (or perhaps two, as I think we may include Dumbledore); Narcissa deceives her master and saves Harry at the crucial point because of her love for her son; Neville kills Nagini, not because he knows why it must be done, but because he trusts Harry; Dobby gives his life, not because he hates the Dark Lord's rule, but because he loves Harry.
(You can read now.)

So there are my thoughts upon first reading. It's not my favorite book in the series, but I think it was as near a perfect ending as could be. I still have some questions and some things I want to give more attention to, but that can only mean one thing.

Reread!

Book 7 (no spoilers)

Okay, so I haven't even read any of the HP books, and I'm catching some of the hype/excitement. It's contageous!

I did watch the first two movies this week. I hadn't let the kids read the series for a long time, but now that Tim is going to be a high school senior, I thought it would be okay. So he read all six books in four months and has started catching up on the movie versions. We found a HP party at our local library, a gathering for fans to speculate before they rush to Barnes and Noble at midnight to buy their copy. Tim won't be buying a copy; he'll be on a waiting list to read a library copy. He's afraid of spoilers, especially since he probably won't be reading it for weeks after everybody else.

Meanwhile, the younger siblings are going to be watching a video at home with me while their big brother is at the library talking about a book series they're not allowed to read yet . . . Their day will come.

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Update - Tim went to the party, which went on until midnight, when the library unveiled their three copies for patrons to check out. They did a drawing of those who were there to see who'd get the first three copies, and he won the drawing - and came home with a copy of the book!

We promise - no spoilers. :)

Heart-Healthy Food

(Note: this potato chip is fresh from the bag, uneaten and unaltered.)

How to Fold a T-shirt

This was posted and linked on a message board I visit. It's a Youtube video demonstrating how to fold a T-shirt.

In Progress

The room remodel is underway!

A roll-top desk is going to be moved into the room, in front of the chair, along the wall. There's another cabinet like the small one on the floor by the chair; they'll go above the desk as a place for books that are being moved from the office room to this bedroom. The taller cabinet is for Miss M's clothes.


This is the Wall of Cabinets. It goes all the way to the ceiling.


The cabinet has shelves, not drawers. They're replacing what was in two large chest of drawers and a tall loungerie chest, plus they have additional space for sheets and blankets.


There's going to be a shelf for books running along two walls up high near the ceiling - about fifteen feet of shelf (we have lots of books being moved into the room!)

A Clearplay DVD player and TV are going to be in this room, too - no idea where to put those. Possibly above Miss M's cabinet? Tim and J sometimes watch movies that L and Miss M are too young for, and it's going to be better to have them locked in the room watching their movies than to try to lock the little kids in this room watching a kids movie because the unsuitable movie is being viewed in the family room (that's how we'd been doing it up til now). A little bookshelf will be going in beside the desk, just under the window. The bed was moved to the other window, and a wide headboard will be built to fit a file cabinet near the roll-top desk. That window by the bed is a second-story window, so we installed a window guard to keep Miss M from climbing the headboard and going out the window.

We've already encountered a problem - Miss M can't resist opening the new cabinet doors and banging them shut. We considered putting child-proof locks on them to keep her from doing that, but we decided it would be easier to put a child-proof gate up to keep her out of the room altogether. Since there will also be a desk in there, she really doesn't need to be using it as a play-room. It will just be a place for her to sleep and store her clothes. Most days, Mr. B will either be sleeping in there or working at the desk, so she won't be able to play in there most times, anyway.

The room has a lot more storage, yet doesn't feel any smaller since we moved up toards the ceiling instead of added more furniture. It's also bright and looks very simple and neat rather than cluttered - that's important when you're fitting two rooms of stuff into one room.

Textbooks quote

Here's an interesting (and amusing) comment about textbooks from a speech about the importance of teaching history; I found this article linked at The Common Room.

"...if you show them what you love, they’ll get it and they’ll want to get it. Also if the teachers know what they are teaching, they are much less dependent on textbooks. And I don’t know when the last time you picked up a textbook in American history might have been. And there are, to be sure, some very good ones still in print. But most of them, it appears to me, have been published in order to kill any interest that anyone might have in history. I think that students would be better served by cutting out all the pages, clipping up all the page numbers, mixing them all up and then asking students to put the pages back together in the right order. The textbooks are dreary, they’re done by committee, they’re often hilariously politically correct and they’re not doing any good. Students should not have to read anything that we, you and I, wouldn’t want to read ourselves. And there are wonderful books, past and present. There is literature in history. Let’s begin with Longfellow, for example. Let’s begin with Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, for example. These are literature. They can read that too."

Remodel in progress

Back in March I posted about our plans to do some room shifting to move Tim to his own room. He'll be getting the guest room that Mr. B uses as his office. We're slowly doing things, one at a time, to make that happen. First, we're getting the master bedroom ready to hold stuff for three people (Miss M is in our room) that currently takes up two rooms.

The first step was this nifty closet above our bedroom door in the hallway to make room for stuff. It has a hinged door to hide the clutter, and it's about 4 feet suare and a foot high, so a lot of stuff will fit into it. Right now it's holding sewing/craft stuff.




Then we replaced the toilet and sink in the master bath. The pedestal sink makes the tiny room look bigger, and, as it turns out, it was the cheapest one in Home Depot. Baseboards will be a project for another day.



And the wall of cabinets is sitting in the basement, ready for assembly:

Being Human: ch 10

This is the final chapter, and it's about judgment. It says 1) that our faith will be evidenced by works if it's real faith, and 2) that judgment for Christians is God separating the waste and sin in our lives from what's good - it will be somewhat like a person separating the good parts from a rotten apple. God would never throw the whole apple away, but some apples might have next to nothing left after all the bad spots are cut away.

So, here's the quote:

"It is not that our efforts can secure us the reward of heaven, of eternal life with God; only the righteousness of Christ secures this for us and our faith is simply the hand that receives his gift.
Many in our culture have denied any significance to human choice and action because they have accepted the doctrine that man lives in an uncreated universe. But Christians have confidence that everything is made by the infinite God and that, therefore, as his children, we have value and our choices and actions have eternal consequences. So we have to ask ourselves and each other, 'How shall we then live? Shall we choose life or death?' Let us shake ourselves free from the ashes of our culture's departure from the sure foundation of God's Word and take hold of the life which is life indeed as we come to Christ."

It doesn't summarize the chapter very well, but what a rousing quote anyway! And I love how he says that "faith is simply the hand that receives his gift."

Being Human ch 9: The Family

This chapter reminded me of both Charlotte Mason (in volume 3, she talks about the need for and balance between authority and submission) and the book Families Where Grace is in Place (because of the mutual submission of family members even with proper authority in place.)

"The target to be aimed at within the relationship is principally the experience of mutuality--the sharing of one another's lives expressed in an attitude of submission, of a willingness to give oneself away out of concern for the other and out of reverence for Christ. Because human beings are designed for such a relationship, it will not damage them. In fact, this is the only way to find fulfillment within marriage. The opposite idea, seeking to keep intact one's own life, insisting on one's own rights, resenting whatever is costly to oneself in terms of time or energy, spells ruin to the couple and the family.

"This is where so many of the ideas of the women's liberation movement are wrong. Some of the ideas are completely right and we should support them (for example, equal pay for equal work, equal opportunity). But there is no doubt that its chief characteristic is an ideal of fulfillment for women which is essentially self-centered. We reject this not because it comes from women. The attitude is just as reprehensible on the other side--and certainly it is more common among men. Much of the emotional force among liberationists comes from the fact that men have been so selfish within marriage. Nevertheless, feminist attitudes are also the result of a general redefinition of self-fulfillment today as 'what I like, when I like, how I like.' The effects of this are lethal.

"The Christian must insist that fulfillment in marriage is the result of an attitude of self-giving by each spouse. Mutuality means acting together, being so involved in the other's life that one is prepared to 'spend and be spent' for the other. This must have pre-eminence over the authority."

[This book was written in 1978, when Women's Rights was still newsworthy.]

Then there's a section that deals with parents and children. It seemed to echo CM's ideas: There needs to be parental authority, but it must be clear to parent and child that parental authority is delegated authority, and both parent and child are bound to obey God's laws first. Authority is never arbitrary. Parental authority is temporary--parents will begin to turn over authority to the children as they mature. Like I said, just a re-wording of what CM wrote in her books (especially Volume 3).

Being Human ch 8: Guidance

This chapter emphasized two main points. First, we're expected to make decisions rather than waiting passively for God to tell us what to do (although that doesn't exclude waiting on God and leaving room for Him to act). And, second, there are certain issues where we know God's will for our lives because they're already stated in the Bible. Here are the quotes:

"The first principle of guidance is this: Obey the explicit statements in Scripture which make clear what God's will is for everyone. These are found everywhere in Scripture and are the general directions concerning how life should be lived by all."

"Each of us has a different life-situation. But the differences must not be exaggerated. The similarities of experience are greater than the dissimilarities: all believers have to struggle with sin, all need to walk by faith, all will be tempted. Therefore, the information given by the Bible as the will of God is guidance sufficient for the major part of our lives.

Thinking Blog Award

Dawne has given me a Thinking Blogger Award. Thank you, Dawne! :)

Here is the information on The Thinking Blogger Award.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).

A lot of blogs that I read have already received Thinking Blog Awards -- must mean I have good taste! :) Here are some that deserve to be awarded, too:

1. Miss Roxie - I always find something to ponder or chuckle over on her blog.

2. Mama Squirrel has already received an award, but I've been spending more time at her blog lately, so I couldn't leave hers out.

3. Firefly posts beautiful thoughts and images (and she's my cyber-twin!)

4. MamaLion has been posting about courtship from the perspective of someone who's had some experience with it. She's a "thinking CM mom."

5. Dawn's blog is like a quiet haven where I find something to reflect on.

More Bugs

(Well, technically one insect and one gastropod mollusk. A bug and a slug.)