Feminism Has Failed

At least, that's what Linda Hirshman said on TV. Too many women are choosing to stay at home doing the kind of menial labor, cleaning, cooking, childcare that lower class people could be doing, so that those with higher education can put their educations to use by joining the work force. It's time to re-educate our women-to-be so they'll understand that they were meant for better things. Apparently women's rights was never intended to give the women the impression that they were supposed to find fulfillment raising children. Albert Mohler wrote a nice commentary on this. Thanks to the Common Room for pointing this out.

Must A Private School Accept Students It Doesn't Want?

I found this by accident on this blog: Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher

"A federal appeals court said Wednesday that it would reconsider a decision to strike down the Hawaiians-only admissions policy of a prestigious private school..."

Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii were "established in 1884 through the last will and testament of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop...for the education of Native Hawaiians and funded entirely by the income from our land holdings and investments." It's through these schools that the Hawaiian language, which had just about died out, has been resurrected and is now being learned again. Read more about the legal challenge here.

My interest in this is based more on my regard for Hawaiian culture than anything else. If they can't limit their Hawaiian-tailored education to Hawaiians, then what's the point?

Mental Quirks

(Two interesting observations I've made in the last couple of days.)

I've been listening to a lot of Chopin this week. (That's a good thing.) But I didn't realize how much it affected me. We have metal poles in our (full) basement that support the main beam across the floor, and when they're hit they have a loud metallic ring. Last night we were down there playing and one of them accidentally got hit and it rang out a specific note. Immediately--without waiting for a "that reminds me of" or anything like that--my mind starting playing Chopin's Revolutionary Etude, of which the metal pole had played the first note.

And just this evening I conciously heard my brain talk for the first time. I've been able to form my thoughts into words for as long as I remember, but this was the first time I had a thought--coming from my "subconsious," as Freud would have said--that came to me in an already formed sentence, like hearing someone talk. Of course, what it said was, "Well look at you, now--you're not so bad, are you?" which made me laugh.

"Mungo Knotwise" talks about what parents really need

I loved this parenting post by Plaid Dad.

I agree with every word of it, except that I don't use cloth diapers. Laziness won out over principle--too many leaks meant I was constantly doing laundry, and in the end, I decided that $5 a week for cheap disposables was a compromise I could live with. Cloth has probably come a long way in the 15 years since I tried them, but we never could justify the lay-out of cash at one time to try the experiment again.

And I Don't Even Knit!

You are "turbo" charged.
Fast moving and classy, you get things done with power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be deceiving, since what you really value is quality and efficiency. As you're careening around those corners in life, finishing a dozen knitted objects each month, stop and smell the roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to coffeemama!

marriage secrets...

Question

What's one thing you have learned to do differently to make your marriage better? Or one thing you think is important to a good marriage?

The Not-So-Fine-Print: If you're not married, look at your parents or a couple you know that has a good marriage and tell something you admire about their relationship. And no pressure to tell the most important thing; in fact, try to write something different than what's already been written, if you get tagged after several other people have already done it. If you get tagged, link back to whoever tagged you, so we can follow the trail and see what others have said.

My Answer

I've learned not to compare my marriage with someone else's. My husband doesn't send me like little emails like some husbands I've read about, he doesn't take me on "dates" like books say are necessary for any relationship, and he doesn't buy me diamond jewelry. On the other hand, I'm not a picture-perfect model of the ideal wife, either. We are who we are, and what we're doing works for us. When I read or listen to marriage seminars that tell husbands what they need to do and be for their wives, I always think of other things that are more important to me. Instead of letting someone else's marriage make me feel like I'm missing something that I'm supposed to feel entitled to, I like to focus on the unique things that make our marriage work--like the fact that my husband knows that I always appreciate gifts from the office supply store immensely more than jewelry!

I'm tagging Miss Roxie, the Headmistress, Donna-Jean, Queen Shenaynay, and Mama Squirrel.

Guess Who's Been Watching Olympic Skating?

Miss M has! Right after breakfast, she said 'I need my hula skirt, I hafta dance.' No thought for color, matching, suitability - the only consideration when dressing is, 'Hafta dance.' She's started insisting on wearing some kind of dress all the time, it can be short or long, and color/pattern isn't important. It just has to flair out when she twirls!

Her generic term for dancing is 'hula,' but it covers gliding arabesques on the ice, too.






Dancing takes total concentration and focus. At least, if you're going to do it right and if you're doing it for the proper motivation (which is, as we all know, applause and cheers from the audience!)





Family friend "Sis" came over and did the sisterly girl thing - she gave Miss M her very first pigtails!

An Epic

Lo! In a morn of the dwindling winter,
when earth-frosting all lay melting to mud,
in that day was decreed that the trash must be taken
out to the street. (And oft we have heard
how such things are forgotten and left still to linger,
o'erflowing the lid.)

In darkling of night, after breath-freezing dusk,
an inkling returned to those ill-fated boys
of the deed unaccomplished. Desperate they rose
and donned their jackets (well-proven weeds
in elder days woven to stand against cold)
then silently (so they would not wake the neighbors)
they slipped from a side-door and lifted the trashcan.
They bore it between them, a bier of banana-peels,
lightly o'er gravel to the end of the driveway.
Then racing they ran over wintery leaves
(sodden, not crunchy like leavings of autumn)
and returned to the household with tale of their daring.
Hail them heartily, those domestic defenders,
trial-proven warriors, the home-coming heroes.



(Of course, a really first-rate Anglo-Saxon poet would have gone over the history of the jacket-makers and their well known family disputes, given the boys' family tree, and probably thrown in the trashcan's to boot. But oh well.)

Menu/Meal Meme

I was tagged by The Headmistress at The Common Room. I hate cooking, but these things are always fun, so I'm playing anyway. :)

1. How many meals does most of your family eat at home each week? How many are in your family?

We probably eat 20 meals at home (mostly self-serve, rushed, or quick and easy) and we're a family of six.

2. How many cookbooks do you own?

Maybe a dozen.

3. How often do you refer to a cookbook each week?

Not even every week

4. Do you collect recipes from other sources? If so, what are some of your favorite sources (relaties, friends, magazines, advertisements, packages, the internet, etc)

I have a recipe collection, but when I decide to make something I've never made before, I always look online for a recipe anyway.

5. How do you store those recipes?

I've started keeping recipes that I plan to use regularly in a file on my hard drive.

6. When you cook, do you follow the recipe pretty closely, or do you use recipes primarily to give you ideas?

I have to follow it pretty closely.

7. Is there a particular ethnic style or flavor that predominates in your cooking? If so, what is it?

My kids seem to like basic stuff that kids like, but I prefer Thai; I've been buying easy Thai meals recently.

8. What's your favorite kitchen task related to meal planning and preparation? (eating the finished product does not count)

Cleaning up and getting out of the kitchen.

9. What's your least favorite part?

Deciding what to have for dinner, and rinsing and chopping lettuce.

10. Do you plan menus before you shop?

Yes, usually.

11. What are your three favorite kitchen tools or appliances?

Microwave, blender (for green smoothies), can opener that doesn't leave sharp edges

12. If you could buy one new thing for your kitchen, money was no object, and space not an issue, what would you most like to have?

A COOK! Or a Vitamix super-blender.

13. Since money and space probably are objects, what are you most likely to buy next?

I already bought it - it's a coffee grinder for grinding flax seeds and nuts.

14. Do you have a separate freezer for storage?

No.

15. Grocery shop alone or with others?

Dh usually buys groceries on his way home from work.

16. How many meatless main dish meals do you fix in a week?

Most are meatless.

17. If you have a decorating theme in your kitchen, what is it? Favorite kitchen colors?

No theme (unless efficiency is a theme?) Colors - I like yellow and white, bright and clean and sunshiny.

18. What's the first thing you ever learned to cook, and how old were you?

I don't remember, maybe a cake mix?

19. How did you learn to cook?

I remember making scrambled eggs a lot. I never could get them perfect, and it probably soured me early on cooking.

20. Tag two other people to play.

Miss Roxie
Beth

A New Kind of Dance?

Miss M asked for her hula skirt and some music so she could dance. I put on a compilation of songs I never mind listening to again and again. It has a couple of songs from Lilo and Stitch, some other Hawaiian music, but also some James Taylor songs and praise songs by Ritchie Furay. When I glanced over at her during a Ritchie Furay song ('Give Thanks to the Lord') she was dancing with her head bowed and hands folded! LOL!

I guess this takes even "Praise Hula" to a new level. Maybe "Prayer Hula??"