Not a Joking Matter

This "book" was donated to the library a while back. I just now got these pictures uploaded.



I say "book" because it's really more of a 8.5x11-sized tract. With a cover like that, full of big, threatening letters and Having Every Single Word Capitalized, it may just make you throw up your hands and say:



Authentic! Startling! Astounding!

UPDATE: Click on the photo of the man to go to Picasa. Click the magnifying glass to get bluray-like detail to zoom in on the picture. Read the bottom banner.
"EVERY HOME SHOULD HAVE THIS BOOK!"
Be advised.

I've been in church my whole life, and heard lots of theologies about Hell, but I did learn something from this booklet. Here it is:



I had no idea Hell was housed in the spherical, molten core of our planet, but it all makes sense now. "Does the center of the Earth have a bottom? NO!"

With the donations to the church library, we first decide whether to include them in our collection, then decide whether they're appropriate to donate to the prison ministry or another ministry that takes them. If none of those are good matches, we put the books in a FREE pile in our library for passer-bys to pick up. This booklet, I couldn't bear to send to any of those places, but it was too compelling (hilarious) to just throw away.

I would consider passing it on to another good home if someone would like to read more of the 28 pages of illustrated, full-color instructions on avoiding hell and why you might want to do so.

* I could have dealt with the more serious issue of evangelistic scare tactics, the effectiveness of tracts, and other theologies of Hell, but this booklet really speaks for itself- and I think anyone would have a hard time taking it seriously, so the above issues are moot.

Canning count

Canned so far:

• 9 pints tomato sauce
• 9 pints peaches
• 12 pints, 1 pt pickles
• 12 pints, 25 qts (!) green beans

Not canned, but saved for winter:

• 35 lbs potatoes
• A few heads broccoli in the freezer
• Raspberries in the freezer
• Some more peaches, in the freezer

What's left?
I expect to get some pears or apples at some point, and make some applesauce or pear sauce or just can pears. Tomatoes are still coming in- if I feel totally bombarded by them, I may have another canning day. That's not the case right now. Also, Casey ate a bunch I left on the kitchen table last night. Stupid dog. If I get more cabbage or cauliflower or broccoli, I may try to freeze it. The cucumbers are (finally) slowing, so I may still try to make spears, and I may not.

Why bother?
There's something to be said for eating local, seasonal food year-round. It's not expensive to buy a can of green beans at the grocery store- even organic green beans- but to know that the green beans in the can I open for dinner are from my backyard, even in the dead of winter, is comforting. Besides, they taste better, too. Thanks to my work up front, my grocery lists are shorter for the rest of the year- also a nice perk.

I think the work is worth it, and I'm thankful for the friends that have taught me to can and to garden. Y'all are awesome!

Butterfly in the sky...

Butterfly in the sky...
I can fly twice as high...
Take a look,
it's in a book-
Reading Rainboooow!

I can go anywhere...
Friends to know
And ways to grow...
Reading Rainbooow!

I can be anything...
Take a look,
it's in a book-
Reading Rainboooow!

Now, that's gonna be stuck in your head all day. Thank me later.

I have never known a world without Reading Rainbow. It began its run on television less than 6 months before I was born. Tomorrow, the world will be without Reading Rainbow. Listening to that NPR story on the way in to work made me tear up. Sesame Street taught my generation how to read, but Levar Burton on Reading Rainbow taught us to love reading. A love of reading is secondary to knowing the alphabet, for sure, but gets at the heart rather than the head. Literacy creates functioning society members- a love of reading creates lifelong learners.

NPR explained that research is partly to blame for the death of the show:

The decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling.

Grant says that PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that's not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.
...
Linda Simensky, vice president for children's programming at PBS, says that when Reading Rainbow was developed in the early 1980s, it was an era when the question was: "How do we get kids to read books?"

Since then, she explains, research has shown that teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network's priority.

My hope is that learning "the mechanics of reading" won't make kids consider books a solely academic pursuit. Reading Rainbow showed kids enjoying reading, and went beyond the books to get kids thinking and interacting with issues they were seeing on the pages. The books were fun, and the show featured other kids talking about books they like. I'm kind of sad my kids won't ever get to watch a new episode- obviously the old episodes (and books they review) will still be available, but I wonder if the dress and style of the show will feel hokey and be less appealing as time goes on. After today, the show will only exist in the memories of my generation and in home theaters on DVD. And on YouTube, of course.

"But don't take my word for it..."
Reading Rainbow

Summer of Babes

First, in June, it was Levi. Then, in July, Jasper. Then, in August, Ashlyn.

This weekend, Savannah joined the world! Welcome, little girl!

Head over to Ashley's blog to wish her & Paul congratulations, and check out the little beauty on their flickr album.

Next up: Tree & Dan's bundle of joy, expected in a couple weeks.
----------------------------------
UPDATE: Seriously an hour after I posted this, Timothy Edward joined Tree & Dan's family! Get over to their blog, too, and congratulate their new family of four!

State Fair Adventures

I need to start this post with... CAN YOU BELIEVE I FORGOT MY CAMERA?!?

Yeah, me neither.

In the past, I've done a whole series of posts with pictures from the state fair. This year? Zero. Except for the few I snapped with my cameraphone, but I'm not sure how to get them off my phone. We have a Bluetooth adapter for the computer somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it up. I digress.

We walked though a variety of buildings, and saw a giant cheese sculpture, a sandcastle depicting cows lounging at the beach, and Red Gold cans stacked in the shape of the Starship Enterprise. Of course I didn't miss the animal barns, and saw the pigs, horses, and sheep. The sidewalk in front of the barns was crammed with food stands full of Fried Fill-in-the-Blank, and we resisted all of them. Hooray for the diet! We also resisted the booths touting jacuzzis, lottery tickets, and insurance quotes, but that was a lot easier.

The highlight of the trip was the free concert we caught on the way back to our car. The State Fair snagged none other than the '90's superstar MC Hammer for the free concert.We got to watch some early-'90's dance moves, and see 2 Legit 2 Quit and Can't Touch This live. Who knew he was still around?! 

Actually, I knew he was still around. I happened across his often-updated blog a few years ago, and apparently he's on Twitter too. How on earth did I happen across his blog? Well here's the story... The very first stranger to link to me, to Keeping Feet, was back in early 2006. I was doing a Google search to see who linked here, and this blog came up- a developer in Serbia. Serbia! Under his "Nice People" blogroll  was just me, by myself. Awkward. Soon after, a couple more people were added- MC Hammer and Linus Torvalds. I thought it was an odd group. Since then, he's added links to other people, but I still am the odd one out, not being a celebrity and all. I don't know anyone in Serbia, I don't think. But someone in Serbia thinks I and MC Hammer are both nice people. I was glad to finally get to see this other nice person in concert.

Josh sent me this today, to commemorate the time at the concert...

Wordless Wednesday: GenCon adventure

See the rest of the GenCon & BlogIndiana pictures

Telling a Story

So, I proved myself a geek yesterday and went to Blog Indiana, a small conference for local bloggers (and then proved myself an even bigger geek and stopped by GenCon, but that's another story). While I learned some useful information, the highlight was seeing the people there- reconnecting with some, and meeting others for the first time.

I'm not a big-time blogger, nor do I aspire to be. I love writing and taking pictures, and so I do, simple as that. I am beyond appreciative of those of you that read along and join me on the journey.

The first panel was about business bloggers, full of marketing people and a business owner, talking about how they further business connections via Twitter and blogs. Next up was the food blogger panel. To be clear, this was a "foodie" panel, and I never fully realized the difference between "foodie" and "person who likes to cook" until listening to this group. Because I do have a food blog, I was looking forward to this panel, but most of the discussion was about wine (which I don't drink and know nothing about) and restaurants I can't afford. Kinda disappointed, but I was too shy to speak up with my own questions, so it's what I got.

The last panel I attended yesterday was originally called the "Mom Bloggers Panel" but the discussion turned into women bloggers (and blog readers) in general, and how they differ from everyone and everything else we've heard at this conference. Some of the points made:

• "Mommy bloggers" is not a valid description of all women who blog. This may be obvious to you. I'm a woman who blogs about home and family stuff, but I'm not a mom. There are moms who blog about things other than being a mom, and they don't fall under the "Mommy Blogger" label either. Even those that do blog about their kids don't necessarily like the "Mommy Blogger" label.
  
• Women online are a force to be reckoned with. Women make a huge percentage of a household's purchasing decisions, so figuring out how to market to them, how to reach them, and how they spend their time online should matter to marketing folk. It was sad, to me, to see that the auditorium emptied out for this panel- all the men who had been hearing about online marketing strategies for the last 3 days didn't see the value in hearing from influential bloggers from a segment of the population that carries the nation's pocketbooks. To me, it goes to show how big the disconnect between men and women online is, as I think the moms panel felt discounted and set aside for the Serious Man Talk of SEO and CSS and other, more important acronyms.
• Women blog to connect. Each and every panelist said they first started reading blogs, first got online, and first started blogging to find people going through the same things they were. They blog to relate, to be in and find community, and to be known- and know they're not alone in their experience. Many of the blogs by men I see exist to share information, while blogs by women share stories. Disclaimer: I know this is a generalization and not true for everyone- just an empirical observation.

That last bit- blogging as a story- is what's gotten me thinking. I'm in the middle of a draft of Donald Miller's new book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. (Proper review forthcoming) Miller, in the book, talks about the importance of Story- our lives as an overarching story. The basic form of a story is, "A Character that wants something and overcomes conflict to get it." Every good, engaging, compelling blog tells a good story- a story of desire and conflict and overcoming. Women seem to want to tell this story, and find people with similar stories- other Characters walking the same journey. Blogs about the latest tech tips or best business practices or commentary on news events don't capture me as much as a story of even the mundane bits of life.One panelist says she waits to blog about an event until it has a resolution- I could relate. I like being able to tie up my stories. I waited a week to mention we got a dog, just to see how it was going to go. Other stories on my blog include the Daybed Story, the Debt Story, the Hail Story, the Car Swap Story, the Engagement Story, and even my Bean Story. I'm not a compelling or funny storyteller, but I write down these stories to make sense of them- to give the trajectory of my experience a beginning, middle, and end. When you look at blogs in teh context of Story, it's easier to get beyond the flashing ads and silly insurance marketing, and see the heart of the writer.

Stories matter. They help us make sense of life, and connect with others' lives, I'm thankful for my friends who let me share in their stories, both online and off.

Cucumber Harvest FAIL

The second and third cucumber from the left are the "right" size for harvesting. Lately, most of the cucumbers I have been picking have been the size of the second from the left.

Did you know that cucumbers turn yellow when they get too big? Sure makes them easier to spot in the cucumber patch amidst the green leaves (and weeds)! You'd think I got a great Orlando resort deal and took off on vacation while these monsters appear, but, alas, no, they pop up overnight (or seemingly overnight. I like to think that's why I miss them.)

Anyone want a bunch of overgrown cucumbers?

Family Reunion '09

I'm a week behind on these pictures, but here's what I got: The annual family reunion. We missed out last year because we were at a different family reunion in a different state on the same weekend. Past reunions look pretty much like this one, except the kids have gotten bigger.
2008
2007
2006

This year, there was the obligatory Table Full of Food. I think I counted something in the range of 5 macaroni and cheese dishes. I brought coleslaw in an attempt to get a cabbage out of my fridge.


A couple dogs joined the party.


We were THIS CLOSE to bringing Casey along, but decided to leave him at home this year. I think he would have done OK, but we wouldn't have been able to go to the petting zoo with him in tow. "Petting zoo?" you say? Yes, a petting zoo! Pigs! Turkeys! Goats! Sheep! Ducks! Peacocks! Emus!



I'll leave you with an idea of how these kids grow up under our noses. I present the newest baby at the reunion two years ago, August 2007:


And last week, the same beauty:


All grown up! Well, all of her two-and-a-half year old self. Check out all of the pictures from this year's reunion!

Yearbook Yourself

If I was a high school senior the year I was born (1984), this could have been me:

If I was a high school senior in second grade (1992):

If I was a high school senior in 6th grade (1996):

And, if I had dark hair during my high school years (2000):

Now YOU try- Yearbook Yourself!

BONUS: If I was around in 1950...

Purrfect Play Organic Toys

Casey sees me reviewing all these books, and he decided he wanted something to review, too. Coincidentally, around the same time, I see a Wisebread post about a dog toy, and I tell him, This is it! You can review your favorite thing- new toys- and it will be good for you!

I'm careful about what Casey eats- we buy a food made in Indiana with human-grade, American ingredients. Thanks to that, I don't have to worry about recalls of Chinese-made dog food, and Casey stays healthier. It's a win-win. Why wouldn't I apply the same standard to his toys, which he also puts in his mouth and (often) eats? Purrfect Play makes organic dog toys right here in Indiana, using fair-trade, dye-free materials. I'm a fan already. But, would Casey be?

I warned Pam of Purrfect Play that no cloth toy stands up to Casey. I've mentioned our trouble with finding Casey toys before. We can give him hard bones (which he'll play with for a while, but then get bored with), heavy-duty toy ropes (which he eventually shreds), Nylabones (which he eventually destroys) or tennis balls (which he pulls the fuzz off, and eventually destroys) and that's it. He doesn't like chewing rubber (Kongs) and he eats rawhide too quickly and it makes him sick. And, techically, though he still plays with it, a plastic pumpkin isn't a dog toy. When we first got Casey, my parents brought over their late dog's old toys, and they all lasted about half an hour. Combined. Seriously. Toys made of cloth do not hold up to my furball.

Pam sent us a cloth toy anyway- a "dumpling" she's developing for heavy chewers. This was a heavy-duty toy. The heavy canvas outer layer was two layers thick, and inside the half-moon-shaped canvas there was a corduroy-like half-moon, with stuffing and a squeaker.

Casey took his testing and reviewing responsibilities very seriously. (See his serious face below)


His first impression: "A new toy?!? This is AWESOME!!"


He decided it was good for throwing (kind of like a boomerang or frisbee) and good for tug-of-war, since it was fairly heavy-duty. Josh helped him test this "feature":


He gave the toy a good workout that first night. he carried it along with him on a walk, the whole way, and wouldn't even put it down for a belly rub:


Above, I mentioned that other cloth toys have lasted about 30 minutes with him- if that. This lasted about 48 times as long. Twenty-four hours later, the canvas layer and inner layer had been chewed through, and squeaker in the core of the toy had been liberated.

I tried to document this with the camera, but Casey would only let me have the toy for a second, and watched me very closely while I held it. Like I said, he took his reviewing job very seriously. This hole appeared after about 15 minutes of play.


Here's his final report:
Pros

• Material - This would hold up to most dogs, I truly believe.
  
• Shape - The flat-ish shape made it good for throwing and tug of war. Also, it only had two corners, which seem to be the parts that get chewed open the fastest.
  
• Squeaker - With Casey, this is always a Pro
• Organic - When he shred or ate parts of this, I didn't worry about what he was ingesting.
  

Cons

• Really, the only downside is that he chewed through it. 

With the "dumpling" toy, he received his favorite kind of toy- a ball! This is a solid wool, felted ball in black & gray- matching his coat! You can see the excitement on his face:


This ball has been amazing. Unlike tennis balls, he hasn't tried to chew through it. Unlike all his other toys he likes us to throw, he'll actually drop this one for us- the rest, he makes us wrench from his mouth. The ball is a great size for him- slightly bigger than a tennis ball- and light, but solid wool. I was afraid he'd try to pull the fuzz apart, and he hasn't! Another thing I like about this is that it came with instructions for washing it- if it does start to get fuzzy, I can wash and dry it to pull it back together, like new! It's going in with our next load, for a test run, in its own little washer bag. This is seriously great, and is holding up beautifully (which is saying a LOT, considering how hard Casey is on toys!)

Casey encourages you to check out Purrfect Play for dog and cat toys, as well as information on why organic, natural toys matter. Because I've learned about healthy toys for Casey, I'll have a hard time going back to the grocery-store variety, because I now know there are other options out there.

What does your pet play with?

Finding an Unseen God by Alicia Britt Chole

Everyone who knows me knows I love word games, so the fact that there was a word search on the front of the book and at the beginning of every chapter gave me a good feeling. But they say not to judge a book by its cover, so I did actually read it...

God wakened me to his existence when I firmly believed I was not sleeping.

Finding an Unseen God: Reflections of a Former Atheist by Alicia Britt Chole is a story in many parts. The story is told so well- in images, short chapters, alternating between her history as an atheist and her thoughts since. She describes the ways she's dealt with the hard questions of evil in the world and a newly-found Christian worldview. I appreciated both the passion of her faith and the reasonableness of it. Between stories of her journey through atheism, she explains the intellectual struggle and answers she's found since coming to Christianity. She asks of her new worldview or belief system: Is is consistent? Is it livable? Is it sustainable? Is it transferable?

The book is an engaging read, consisting of short two- or three-page chapters, almost "photographs" of experiences or thoughts, stories of her parents, her life as an atheist, and her Christian friends who never gave up on her and lover her well.

In many ways, it would be a relief to once again chalk atrocities up to the human condition alone; to return to the worldview that would deliver me from wondering where God was and what prayer does. But for me, and other sincere people of faith, the tension remains.
Over the years though, I've experiences a glorious discovery: There is treasure in the tension.

Welcome Jasper!

In my last post, if you clicked through to see garden leader Sara, you saw that she was very pregnant... well, the day after that picture was taken, she went into labor, and last Saturday welcomed a baby boy! She just posted her birth story today, complete with pictures of the new addition. I got to meet little sleeping Jasper yesterday, and I was so excited to see the family! Congrats to Grant & Sara!

With 3 more friends due in the next month & a half, there will surely be more announcements soon!