Christmas Trains Updated

Our family loves garden trains, so I was very excited to discover The Holiday Express garden train display at the UT Gardens.  Hopefully, we will be checking it out this weekend.  Hours and rates at the link.

Update:  Yes, the garden trains were lots of fun.  They had a number of different trains running on various loops, including a Thomas the Tank Engine train, a UT train, a John Deere train and, even an aquarium train with actual fish.  For an aerial view, there is a raised bridge in the middle of the display.

The display runs daily, noon to 6:00, until Dec. 29th.

If it's a nice day, you're free to walk the grounds of the UT gardens.  The grounds have lots of fun sculpture and interesting little paths to walk down. Great for kids.  Do note: that is Neyland Dr. in the middle ground, so the gardens, while lovely, are not very peaceful.  

Now Casting Role of "Friend"

Maybe I should try this:

Shoot: ASAP – 2015 [Or longer, as yet undetermined.]
DESCRIPTION: FRIEND will be funny, smart, good-looking but not too good-looking, free on weekends for hanging out and sometimes Wednesdays after work.
Must like: Thai food, Dr. Who, brunch.
Must read: Tumblr, so he can tell me about up-to-date internet memes and we can laugh at them.
FILMING: All filming will be done clandestinely so you will never actually see the camera. We will just hang out like friends and do things like go to the movies or watch How I Met Your Mother—but we’ll never tell people we actually watch that show and it will be a funny secret we have. Don’t worry, though; the web series is real, I promise. Maybe think of it more like guerilla theater. Just keep in mind that the footage may be deleted if it isn’t perfect, so that’s why you may never see it, OK?

Really, Kansas City? Again?

The Kansas City, MO. school district loses it's accreditation again.

The Ridge, by Michael Koryta

When I downloaded The Ridge, I thought it would be a serial-killer book, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover a good ghost story. 

Why did Wyatt French build a lighthouse in the middle of the Kentucky woods?  After his death, a small-town sheriff's deputy and a local newspaper reporter begin to suspect he wasn't just a crazy old drunk, but was, in fact, one of the few people who knew the secret of Blade Ridge.

This book brings a nice creepy vibe without being terrifying.

East Tennessee History Fair

I'll be missing the East Tennessee History Fair due to a prior commitment, but it sure looks like fun.  Friends of the Library is having a history book sale and Jack Neely will be signing books.  There will be music, free trolley rides and open houses at the various historical sites near downtown.  Maybe next year.

Pork Carnitas Tacos

My husband used to have a job where he was pretty much never home for dinner. If he did show up, it was on 30 minutes notice.  So now, he's coming home for dinner every night. Suddenly, I need to cook.  Having a repertoire of four meals just doesn't cut it when you need dinner 7 nights a week.  So, I've been trying a lot of new recipes. The results have mostly been "meh" and have occasionally been "well, who's up for pizza?" 

But here is one that rocked.  Pork Carnitas Tacos, made in the crock pot with a Boston butt roast and a few spices.  So yummy.  Kroger only had a roast much larger than the one called for in the recipe, but I just cooked it all and ended up freezing enough for 2 more meals.  Yay!

By the way, I did not make the salsa from scratch.  I just bought a jar.

Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Even though Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is classified as young adult, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's part mysterious ghost story and part coming-of-age adventure tale.  Jacob is nearly 16 when his grandfather dies violently.  His last cryptic words send Jacob to an island off the coast of Wales where his grandfather, as a child, had taken refuge from WWII.

Old photos, meant to be the ones Jacob's grandfather showed him, are included throughout, adding to the creepy atmosphere of the story.  The clues are laid out and secrets are slowly revealed as Jacob unravels the mystery of his grandfather's youth, discovering in the process that his grandfather's grisly fate could also be his own.

There are a few violent deaths that might make this inappropriate for younger children, but the gore isn't excessive. It should be fine for junior high and up.

Regularly scheduled elections...

happen every 2 years in every state in the union, except in Wisconsin, where they happen over and over until the Democrats win.

Washington's New Clothes

The Emperor didn't actually have a problem until that little sh*t pointed out that he had no clothes. So, technically, it is correct to blame the Tea Party for the downgrade.  Until the Tea Party Caucus forced the issue, everyone, including S&P, was willing to go along with the polite fiction that we were just about to address that looming debt problem.  Any minute now. Perhaps after the next election. Or the next.

I suspect the problem was less the Tea Party Caucus threatening not to raise the debt-limit and more that even with the Tea Party Caucus threatening not to raise the debt-limit, this Washington-style spending cut ("we were going to borrow $10 trillion we can't pay back, but we'll be frugal and only borrow $7 trillion") was the best offer available.  That essentially told the markets that we have no intention of putting on some clothes dealing with the debt.

I.O.U.S.A.

The documentary I.O.U.S.A is currently available to stream on Netflix.  It's a nice overview of the problem with the size and rate of growth of the national debt.  It doesn't focus on how to fix the problem. Instead it mainly focuses on convincing people that there is a problem which is only getting bigger.

This film was produced in 2008, well before the election, so it does not contain any distracting attempts to fix the blame for the current budget debacle on Bush or Obama. Just understand that the numbers are nearly twice what they were then. It's almost quaint to watch people freak out over a "mere"  $8 trillion in debt.  I guess those debt clock guys had to buy a new clock, because the debt clock in this film only had space for 12 digits.

Even though it's only 3 years old, this film is a valuable primary source document on the rapidly changing politics of the debt. First, many people from both parties were concerned about the debt, even before the election of a black man.  Someone tell the New York Times.  Second, Paul Tsongas, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1992, co-founded The Concord Coalition, a non-partisan fiscal responsibility group. In this film, he sounds like a Tea Partier.  Fiscally conservative Democrats are not the unicorns of the Washington, D.C. They really did exist.  Third, Republicans love them some deficit spending.  That's why there's a Tea Party.

Recommended

Avoid This

Do not get the audio version of David Brooks' The Social Animal. The. narrator. speaks. in. a. very. slow. monotone.   I narrowly escaped slipping into a boredom-induced coma. 

Perhaps the producer was going for a sophisticated tone.  "We don't need all that vocal variation to entertain our erudite audience." Yes, yes you do.

Is It Just Me?

TARP: OMG! We need $800 billion right now or we're doomed!!!!
Stimulus: OMG! We need $800 billion right now or we're doomed!!!!
ObamaCare: OMG! We need (trust us, you can read it after we pass it) right now or children will die in the streets!!!
Debt Ceiling: OMG! We need $2.4 trillion right now or we're doomed!!!

Perhaps the wolf is among the sheep this time, but how could we ever know?

U.S. Debt tops 100% of GDP

Yes, that's right. The entire economy produced $14.53 trillion last fiscal year, and the United States now owes $14.58 trillion.

But, if I may paraphrase the NYT's editorial page, you'd have to be an insane, hostage-taking, commie-nazi, terroristic vampire of a tea-bagger to be concerned.

How Washington Defines Spending Cuts

Alternate title: Why We're Still Doomed

You rent an apartment for $500 a month. 
You want to upgrade to the $1000 unit.
At the last minute, you choose to rent the $750 unit instead.

Boehner:
Congratulations!  You just reduced your housing costs by 25%.

Reid:
"Greedy monster. How dare you slash so much from housing"

In which smart people make me question the value of a college education:

So I made the mistake of going out onto the Internet to read up on the debt-ceiling thing.  We're clearly doomed if this thinking is representative.  Fareed Zakaria:

To come at it now after the budget has been passed is like getting your Visa bill and calling up the company to say, "Actually we don't want to buy all that stuff we bought." That's not how it works. First you pay the bill, then you can change your spending habits.

Where to start?  How about with the fact that we haven't had a budget since the fiscal 2009.  Fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011 never managed to capture Reid and Pelosi's attention. House Republicans passed a budget for fiscal 2012 budget (due in two months), but it went to the Senate and hasn't been seen since.

And, of course, if you don't change your spending habits, you're not likely to have the cash to pay the bill.  Especially if you've already hit up dad, your brother-in-law and your best friend for loans.  Fiscal conservatives want to cancel the cable TV, drop the daily Starbucks, and perhaps, vacation in Branson instead of Honolulu. Would that be OK with Fareed?

I'm going back to my bubble until the apocalypse arrives. Shouldn't be long now.

99 cent mystery alert

If you read or saw the movie version of the Lincoln Lawyer, you may not know that Mickey Haller has a  half-brother, Hieronymus Bosch, who's been the star of his own series for almost 20 years.

Amazon now has an electronic version of the first book in that series, Black Echo, for $0.99.

Update: Well, that deal is over, but Black Ice, another Harry Bosch novel, is available for $1.99.

Anderson County Fair This Week

The Anderson County Fair starts tommorow. I haven't been to a county fair since I was a child. Hopefully, we'll make it to Clinton to check out some prize winning pigs and 400 lb. pumpkins.

Fightin' the Power at Market Square

Picture by Glenn Reynolds:

Earth Fare coupons

If you register at Earth Fare's website, they give you some great printable coupons. I got two: a free chicken with a $10 purchase and 5 free ears of corn with a $5 purchase.  Then a new coupon is delivered by e-mail each week.

They also have a page of printable coupons that you can use without registering.

"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and Urban Farming

I've been enjoying Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. She describes her family's move to a small farm in southwest Virgina and their attempt to grow all their own food or buy it locally for one year. 

I have never harbored a secret desire to farm, but this book has inspired in me a desire to grow asparagus and... keep laying hens.  So I was delighted to discover that residents can now keep hens inside the city limits of Knoxville.  We're civilized here though: No chicken coops in the front yard.

Cades Cove

The in-laws were in town, so we decided to do a little touristing and take them to Cades Cove.  It's in the Smokies, about an hour from Knoxville.  The drive is very pretty once you pass Townsend, but be warned, the twisty road made my 10 year old very car sick.

Just before the park entrance, there is a great little picnic area with a creek just right for wading:

The cove is looped by an 11 mile, one-way road. Along the road are a number of buildings original to the cove.  Some are at the side of the road, some are an easy hike into the forest.  A guide book describing all the sights can be purchased for $1 at the entrance.

The cove is a great spot for wildlife viewing. We saw deer, wild turkeys and a tiny black dot in the distance that was rumored to be a bear.  The park is notoriously crowded in the summer and on the weekends. We visited on a Thursday morning in June and found it somewhat crowded, but we didn't experience any traffic delays. 

University of Tennessee Arboretum

The UT Arboretum is a great place for a quick hike. It's easy to get to from Knoxville, just off the Pellissippi on the south side of Oakridge.  The visitor's center is not open on the weekends.  The trails are pretty well marked, but you might want to print out a trail map before you go.  The map lists the mileage of the various sections and the trails interconnect at various points, making it easy to customize your hike.

We hiked the Oak Hickory/Lost Chestnut Trail with a three-year old and it was just perfect.  Challenging enough to be interesting, but not long enough to wear her out to the point of exhaustion/tears.

The most well-read cities in America

According to Amazon, Knoxville is the 11th most well-read city in America. The rankings are based on sales, so Knoxvillians could be very heavy consumers of para-normal teenage romances, but I choose to believe that I live in the intellectual Mecca of the Southeast.

via Instapundit

Chalk Walk 2011

Chalk Walk is a street painting festival held as part of the Dogwood Arts Festival.  It takes place in Market Square and Krutch Park.  Anyone can apply for a patch of sidewalk on which to create a picture in chalk.  The weather this year was sunny and warm.  We really enjoyed watching the artists work, but keeping a three-year-old from stepping on the art was more challenging than I had anticipated. 

We arrived at 9:00 am, because my older daughter's school class was doing a group picture.  We had no trouble getting a parking space in one of the free garages by the square. However, when we left about 1:00, that same garage was swamped, with cars backed up into the street. 

Here are a few pictures of the artists at work.  

Knoxville Has No Tornado Sirens

I've been wondering about this and now I know.  The ridges around Knoxville make it difficult to hear the sirens.  The director of the Knoxville-Knox County Emergency Management Agency recommends all residents have weather radios that receive watches and warnings directly from the National Weather Service.

College of Veterinary Medicine Open House

We visited the UT College of Veterinary Medicine's open house over the weekend and the kids had a good time.  When we first arrived there were all types of dogs available to pet.

 

Book Review: Family Hiking in the Smokies

This book is great for families with younger kids. There is a good description for each hike that includes directions to the hike, length in miles and hours, age appropriateness, difficulty and points of interest such as waterfalls or lookout towers. 

The chart in the back let's the reader easily find a hike that can be done with a preschooler, one that has a waterfall or various other features.

I have a three year-old, so it's great to be able to scan for a nice short hike we can do as a family.

UT College of Veterinary Medicine Open House

The UT College of Veterinary Medicine is having an open house tomorrow. It's free and open to the public. Short notice, but we'll probably blow off the things we are supposed to do tomorrow to check it out.

McGhee Tyson Airport

I don't need a chart to tell me that it's expensive to fly into Knoxville, but according to Nate Silver , McGhee Tyson is number four on the list of the ten most expensive midsize airports in the country. 

Knoxville Greenways

The Knoxville area has an impressive system of greenways for walking or biking. I haven't found a map that includes the entire system, since it runs through three jurisdictions.  However, the Knox Greenways Coalition maintains a list of all the greenways in the area with links to maps of the various sections

We found this great little spot near a favorite playground:

The joys of renting

There is one serious up-side to renting. I can look at this square-mile of shockingly dated wallpaper, (I remember buying sheets with this design nearly 20 years ago)

and not wonder for a moment how long it will take to scrape it off.  Or whether I should paint or repaper.  Or whether I should match the cream trim or the white appliances.  Or also paint the trim.

It's almost relaxing when I notice some flaw that is not my problem.

Life Imitates Mike Meyers

So, I'm watching the last disc of Commanding Heights (produced in 2002) and they bring the deep-voiced narrator and the ominous music to talk about the recession of the early 90's when there were 10 million unemployed and the national debt was...FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS.  So, in other words, the good-old days.

I couldn't help but think of Dr. Evil, holding the world hostage for ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

Missing the Point

Madame Defarge was not meant to be a role model.

Commanding Heights

I just finished watching the first episode of Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World's Economy.  It's a really good, very general overview of battle between free markets and planned economies over the last century.  Highly recommended as a painless way to take in some economic theory.

Fun fact: Keynes and Hayek served as air wardens together in London during WWII.

Free Audio Downloads from the Library -The Best Thing Ever

Without audio books, I'd never get the dusting done.  Or the yard work. Or the ironing.  I'd work at them for a few minutes and then sit down to read.  The selection is not great, but I never have any problem finding something I've been meaning to read.  Or reread.

I recently listened to 1984, which I read so long ago, that my memory of it had become quite dim.  It's a must read if you follow conservative bloggers. I've seen all these references to it in the past week: The memory hole, the two-minutes hate, we've always been at war with East Asia, we thank the party for increasing the chocolate ration from 20 grams to 15 grams.

I just finished The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag from the Flavia De Luce series by Alan Bradley.  Flavia is an 11 year-old amateur chemist and sleuth from 1950's England.  Although the protagonist is 11, these are not children's books.  They contain gruesome murders and adult situations.  Having said that, I laughed out loud more than once.  Highly recommended particularly if you enjoyed:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I couldn't imagine the point of this book when I first heard of it, but since everyone else seemed to be reading it, I downloaded it.  And it was hilarious. I presumed that the shtick of the Bennet sisters fighting the undead would wear off before the book ended, but I snickered all the way through.

Update: Sure enough, the shtick of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies did wear off.  I tried Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, but I didn't make it through the first chapter.  Cute, but not compelling.

We're just like you

For some reason, when certain of my liberal Facebook friends speak on politics, the chorus from that Miranda Lambert song suddenly pops into my head:

We might think a little differently
But we've got a lot in common you will see
We're just like you
Only prettier

See also:  Dear Tea Party Morons

Nice work if you can get it

Remember when reporters used to live by the old axiom "If your mother says she loves you, check it out?"  Now apparently they can just check their Twitter feeds and write "Some people say..."

Update:  Apparently, I'm behind the curve in making this observation.

I have severe case of formaphobia...

or form fatigue, or maybe post-formatic stress disorder, all due to the Kansas Child Health Assessment Form, which, in order to enroll one's child in any type of care, one is required to have filled out by a doctor... once, once a calendar year, once a year from the date of the last check-up?  Who knows?  Who can tell me whether I need to produce a new form for my child's daycare even though they have a form that is less than a year old? 

Certainly not anyone from the Kansas health department or the county health department.  Sure, they are tasked with enforcing the licensing requirements and will be coming around to every day care to demand compliance with the law.  But that is no reason to expect them to be able to tell you how to comply with the law.  Every (very friendly and helpful) person I spoke to gave me a different, contradictory answer.

I cannot wait until these people are in charge of every minute detail of our lives.

Second Look At Bobby Jindal?

Check out Bobby Jindal giving a great speech at a rally to oppose the off-shore drilling moratorium.  After his atrocious response to Obama's State of the Union last year, I thought that, smart as he clearly is, he just doesn't have what it takes to be a national politician.  But perhaps overly-processed speeches read from a teleprompter are just not his forte. No notes, no teleprompter and he knocks it out of the park. 

If we can't have him for POTUS, can we at least have him for Secretary of the Interior? 

p.s. The link is to part one.  More of the speech is in the side bar.

 

My New Favorite Blog

The Introvert's Corner. Reading through this blog was an exercise in saying "Yes, definitely, yep, so true" over and over and over.  I particularly enjoyed Dont' Call Us, We'll Call...Well, No, Actually, We Probably Won't... I never associated my dislike of all things telephone with being an introvert, but the author makes a compelling case.  I particularly related to this:

Introverts tend to be slow thinkers and responders and long pauses don't go over well on the phone. If I am on the phone with a talkative person, I struggle to get my say. I end up doing a lot of listening and uh-huhing. 

This is also a problem with instant messaging. There are even fewer non-verbal cues than on the phone.  By the time I formulate a thought and type it out, the conversation has long since moved on.  I find it stressful and tiring.

How to Piss Off an Introvert:  Yes, yes, yes to all of these, except the last one.  No one has ever accused me of not being an introvert.

Depressing Economic News of the Day

Ed Morrissey has the charts: America's unemployment rate vs. Canada's.  Turns out Canada is led by a fiscal conservative, while we're led by a.....

It's a good thing I haven't moved around too much,

because I've picked up a piece of bad local grammar everywhere I've ever lived.

Chicago: "I'm going to the store.  Wanna go with?"  This is so ubiquitous that Illinois grammar nazis do not bother to correct it.  I had no idea it was problematic until I moved to Kansas.
South Carolina: "I might could do that."  It sounds terrible, but adds extra ambivalence, which I like.
Missouri: The other day someone told me that the song "Life Ain't Always Beautiful" is a great song, if grammatically incorrect.  Several long seconds went by before I figured out the problem.
Kansas:  As far as I can tell, the only grammar problem Kansans have is their tendency to correct other people's grammar.

Something no one knows

As I listen to the pundits discuss the latest dust-up in Israel, it occurs to me that no one seems to know this:

The newly created United Nations approved the Partition Plan for Palestine (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181) on November 29, 1947, which sought to divide the country into two states—one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city—a corpus separatum—administered by the UN.

The Jewish community accepted the plan, but the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee rejected it.
...
On May 14, 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, the Jewish Agency proclaimed independence, naming the country Israel. The following day, the armies of five Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq—attacked Israel, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War;
...
After a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were established. Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip.

So, land was designated for a Palestinian state from the very beginning, but what land the Arab countries didn't lose in a war with a day-old nation, they annexed to themselves.
 
Here's something I didn't know:

Following World War I, the League of Nations granted Great Britain the Mandate for Palestine and the responsibility for establishing "the Jewish national home" within it.

^{I've often heard and believed this piece of conventional wisdom: "Arabs have to suffer a Jewish state in their midst, just because Europeans murdered all those Jews."  I'm sure the Holocaust gave the movement more urgency, but a Jewish homeland was a goal of the international community long before anyone ever heard of Hitler.}

There is no rain in the forecast...

and yet, it's raining.

This in no way shakes my confidence in the ability of scientists to predict the weather 100 years in the future.

Running Makes Me Hungry.

That's the only possible explanation for why I am dutifully putting in the miles and losing no weight.  I shaved 3 minutes off my best time today but I'm still fat.  Arrrgh.  I guess if it wasn't for all the running I could be gaining weight.  Horrors!  I shall try to keep at it, but my body is not providing me with any motivation.

Update:  Shaved another 1:30 off my time.

Talk Nerdy To Me, Baby

I am a Library School drop-out, so this made me quietly chuckle:

"United Amalgamated Union of Lone Wolves and Isolated Extremists"

To quote Mark Steyn. More:

Whenever something goofy happens — bomb in Times Square, mass shootings at a US military base, etc. — there seem to be two kinds of reactions:

a) Some people go, "Hmm. I wonder if this involves some guy with a name like Mohammed who has e-mails from Yemen."

b) Other people go, "Don't worry, there's no connection to terrorism, and anyway, even if there is, it's all very amateurish, and besides he's most likely an isolated extremist or lone wolf."

Unfortunately, everyone in category (b) seems to work for the government.

'Cause if I didn't laugh, I'd cry.

And Jonah Goldberg on liberals' no longer repressed hope that a "teabagger" whacks someone.

It's May Day!

Let the rioting commence!

Seriously though, I hope everyone stays safe out there.  I wish these lefties would take their own advice about working folks into a lather with misinformation.  It's shocking to see how many people think they can be jailed for six months if they leave their driver's license at home.

Every article I've read on the topic includes a sentence like this:

Arizona's new law that allows police to ask people on the street for proof of their immigrations status has energized some protestors, LA Weekly reported.

This is, of course, untrue, especially since the recent clarification:

... lawmakers have removed “lawful contact” from the bill and replaced it with “lawful stop, detention or arrest.” In an explanatory note, lawmakers added that the change “stipulates that a lawful stop, detention or arrest must be in the enforcement of any other law or ordinance of a county, city or town or this state.” “It was the intent of the legislature for ‘lawful contact’ to mean arrests and stops, but people on the left mischaracterized it,” says Kris Kobach... “So that term is now defined.”

The second change concerns the word “solely.”  In a safeguard against racial profiling, the law contained the phrase, “The attorney general or county attorney shall not investigate complaints that are based solely on race, color or national origin.”  Critics objected to that, too, arguing again that it would not prevent but instead lead to racial profiling.  So lawmakers have taken out the word “solely.”

I don't know how he narrowed it down to just 10, but Byron York as a list of the Top 10 dumbest things said about the Arizona immigration law.

                              Shamelessly Stolen from Ace of Spades

Papers Please!

According to Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, "nobody but the Nazis ever asked anybody for their papers."  Too true.  Americans are completely unused to showing documents... unless they:

• fly in an airplane
• travel overseas
• get a job
• rent an apartment
• buy a house
• open a checking account
• get something notarized
• apply for a library card
• rent a car
• buy smokes or alcohol 
• write a check
• get pulled over by the police
• go to the doctor/emergency room

Just the exceptions that prove the rule, I guess.

Thanks Outrageously Expensive American Medical System

My mother has officially outlived the best-case life expectancy given her when she was diagnosed with brain cancer 18 months ago.  This article by Glenn Reynolds reminded me of the amazing feats of technology that made it possible:

• Dinky hospital in Libby, MT (county population 20,000) has MRI machine and uses it to diagnose brain tumor.
• Patient is in danger of slipping into a coma, so hospital calls A.L.E.R.T Air Ambulance to transport patient to...
• Kalispell Regional Medical Center (county population 90,000) where a neurosurgeon begins removing the tumor 6 hours after patient presented in the emergency room back in Libby.
• Radiation in a regional hospital in the middle of Missouri.
• Temodar, chemo drug introduced in the U.S. 9 years earlier specifically for brain tumors
• MRI's every 6 weeks for a year, every 8 weeks from now to eternity to check for regrowth of this very aggressive tumor

And a hundred other gizmos, tests, procedures and drugs to keep alive a person who just had their brain sliced open. Astounding.

From Glenn's article:

The key point, though, is that these treatments didn't just come out out of the blue. They were developed by drug companies and device makers who thought they had a good market for things that would make people feel better.

But under a national healthcare plan, the "market" will consist of whatever the bureaucrats are willing to buy. That means treatment for politically stylish diseases will get some money, but otherwise the main concern will be cost-control. More treatments, to bureaucrats, mean more costs.

And we'll never know what we're missing.  Ten years ago, they didn't know a 67 year old patient with a Grade III Anaplastic Astrocytoma could live 18 months (and counting).

Running

This looks interesting.  A trailer for a documentary/reality show about 6 grassroots candidates running for congress.  Multiple attempts to embed the video were unsuccessful, so you'll just have to click over to you-tube if you want to check it out.

I hope we get to see how it's done. I've always wished that reality shows would actually reflect reality in some way.  This "let's find a dozen of the most annoying people on earth, put them in untenable situations and watch them act like narcissistic maroons" never did it for me.  Give me "Dirty Jobs" any day.

I hope the people responsible for "Greensburg" are kept far away from this project.  After being devastated by a killer tornado, a small town seeks to rebuild using as much green technology as possible. Cool.  Bring on the funky new building materials and small town politics.  We gave up after struggling to stay awake through five episodes.

Kansas City Tax Day Tea Party

Nice Deb has coverage here and here. According to the organizers, an estimated 14,000 people showed up throughout the day.

Kansas Liberty has details on the various speakers, including this Kris Kobach quote:

“The constitution is a cage around the beast and the beast is the government,” Kobach said. “What we are trying to do today is put the beast back in the cage.”

As It's Last Wish...

Iceland's economy requested it's ashes be spread over Europe. -- heard on NPR today.

Awesome volcano pics.

On the Tea Party Crashers

Bill Whittle just posted this wee bit of genius on Facebook:

I just have to say that this attempt to "crash" the Tea Party rallies with racist signs says all you ever need to know about the diversity-loving, tolerant Left. Just THINK about what they are saying here: there is not enough evidence -- essentially no evidence -- to support their slanders, so they will go and GENERATE THE RACISM they will later condemn. Disgusting! 

How twisted would you have to be to carry a racist sign, even in support of a "good" cause?  They won't get too far with this.  Even most leftists will pause to reconsider before they pick up the swastika sign. I hope.

Update:  So far, more bemused hipster, less agent provocateur.

Paul Ryan: Rock Star

Don't miss Glenn Beck's interview with Paul Ryan. Beck fell in love, and so did I.  I love me some wonky politicians. In fact, I heard Ryan mention means testing of SS benefits and had a flashback to Bruce Babbitt's 1988 presidential campaign.  The line on him was that he was too analytical and "means testing of social security benefits" wasn't a good campaign slogan. Babbitt was no closet conservative.  He also supported a national sales tax, if I recall, but there was a time, back in the day, when fiscal responsibility had a constituency on the left. 

Also check out Ryan's super wonkalicious website, A Roadmap for America's Future.

Can You Believe The Nerve?

Dennis Moore:  Ha, ha!  I'm doing whatever I want and you voters can't do a thing about it because I'm retiring.  Hey, how about electing my wife?  
 
From the Kansas City Star:

Stephene Moore, who has been married to Congressman Dennis Moore for 20 years, told The Star this morning that she’s running for Congress.

Her husband announced last year that he would not seek a seventh term this year.

Yes, he announced he would retire because of all the negative feedback he got for his pro-Obamacare stance.  He's received very little static, hasn't held town meetings, etc., because he's retiring.  Now his wife thinks she can just slip in there in his stead.  If she wins the nomination, I hope she's ready to deal with all the anger and frustration her husband deflected with his early retirement announcement.

The New Truth About the Easter Bunny

I was busted hiding Easter eggs in the yard this morning.  After carefully balancing an egg on a tree branch, I looked up to see Mia watching me from a window.  I stopped hiding, grabbed the bag of yet-to-be-hidden eggs, and went inside, preparing to have the "Yes, mommy's been lying to you for years about the Easter bunny" conversation.  Instead, she says, "Wow, mom!  How many eggs did you get?"

The new truth about the Easter bunny: Mommy gets up early to hunt for eggs before those pesky kids hog them all.

So Simple Even A Democrat Could Understand It?

Well, maybe not that simple.  But I love the way Ann Coulter cuts to the chase:

A few weeks ago, The New York Times ran an editorial noting the amazing fact that, by the middle of this year, there will be an estimated 6.8 billion people on Earth -- and 5 billion will have cell phones!...

Before Reagan came into office, we had one phone company, ridiculously expensive rates and one phone model. Reagan split up AT&T, deregulated phone service and gave America a competitive market in phones. The rest is history.

If you can grasp how inexpensive cell phones in a rainbow of colors and wonders like the iPhone could never have been created under a National Cell Phone Reform Act, you can understand what a disaster ObamaCare is going to be for health care in America.

If Puritanism is,

as H. L. Mencken once famously defined it, "the sinking feeling that somebody, some where, is having fun,"  then has liberalism become the sinking feeling that somebody, some where, is making money?

Manifesto

I don't have an I-Phone. I don't have a big screen TV. I drive an 9 year-old car that is too small for my growing kids but has one feature I really love: It's paid for.  Four years ago, I was thrilled to move into the first house I have ever lived in that has a garage door opener.  Sure, we wanted a house with a three car garage, but, alas, we couldn't afford it.  Remember that quaint concept.  Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who does.

I don't mean to poor mouth.  We choose to spend our money on other things.  We choose to have no debt other that our mortgage.  We choose high-speed internet and fairly nice computers.  I have a kid with some sensory issues that would make public school (or any 'sit at your desk and do this worksheet' school)  a nightmare for her, so we choose to send her to a private school that is so perfect it might have been tailor-made for her. Oh, and we choose to buy health insurance.

I've spent my whole life working, studying, and making boring, responsible choices. And now, when I've finally reached what I've been working towards, which for me is the smallest house in an middle-middle class neighborhood in a nice town in the midwest, Obama comes along to tell me I MAKE TOO MUCH MONEY. I have to buy a non-subsidized $15,000 insurance policy I don't want and can't afford so he can buy the vote of some 26 year-old hipster who chooses to buy internet access for his cell-phone, but not health insurance; who chooses to buy an x-box, but not health insurance; who chooses to be a performance artist rather than get a boring job with health insurance. I guess I don't have to tell you what I was doing a at 26. Yes, working a job, paying off my student loans and BUYING MY OWN HEALTH INSURANCE.

This was exactly my concern when Obama was elected.  Where will these socialists get the money for their social revolution?  From the the rich? There are not enough of them and they're powerful enough to look after their own interests.  From the poor? Obviously not.  From people who've spent every dime they made plus every dime they could borrow on consumer goods?  Blood from a turnip.  The grasshoppers have to come after the ants, because the ants are the only ones with any money in the bank.

Alright grasshoppers: Bring it.  You may be big, but there are a hell of a lot of us ants.

Small Wonder He's a Narcissist

He has a lot of evidence for his belief that he's the center of the universe:

Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

He took office less than 2 weeks before the nomination deadline.

First Veggies

This is the first time in years I've tried to grow veggies. I've only ever managed to get a few green onions to grow. So I was pleased to see a large zucchini, some basil, some parsley and tomato in the garden. I love to puree zucchini and put it in the freezer for slipping into chili or casseroles, but I hate to pay a fortune for it at the store. I grew these from seed, so I've already broke even.

Chicken Mummy, pt I

So now that we're not homeschooling, we have time for some of those fun homeschool projects we could never get around to when we were homeschooling.

Behold, the mummification of King Kluck:




He's been sitting on my counter lilke that for 5 days. We can't smell him, but he looks a little wet. Could it be time to change his salt already? I really didn't want to do that until trash day, iykwim. On the other hand, I don't want him rotting away and ruining our mummy project. Perhaps it doesn't matter. Mia's really only interested in decorating his sarcophagus.

Where do people find the time

to homeschool. We homeschooled for 1.5 school years. It was fun and fruitful when we were actually schooling, but things were always coming up. The main problem was/is my toddler. She is, shall we say, very active. It was one thing when she napped twice a day, but when she went to one nap, our uninterrupted school time dropped precipitously. If we missed a day due to relatives visiting, illness, doctor appointment etc., we had a hard time making it up.

Then, in October of last year, my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor while on vacation and had emergency brain surgery in Kalispell, MT. So a solid three weeks of being hysterical with worry and flying back and forth from Kalispell made me despair of ever getting anywhere with school.

I remembered a school I'd checked out when Mia was 4 or 5, but she hadn't been ready for a full day program. But she's matured a lot in the intervening years and they had an opening, so she started in January. It's a small school with about 18 first through sixth graders in one classroom. There is one teacher and one aide for the 18 kids, so she gets a lot of individual attention and can work at her level in each subject without leaving the classroom. The public school wanted to pull her out of class several times a week for this and that. The school preserves many of the things I liked about homeschooling, but stuff actually gets done.

Craft Hell

They're supposed to be cats:
Yes, cats. We've always lacked craft skills around here, but alas, Mia is now old enough to notice how much these don't look like cats.

Thought you were having a bad day?

Who knows? Could be the start of a new trend.

Become One With The Lesson

So we started studying the rain forest yesterday. We read that a poison dart frog carries its tadpoles on its back up a tree and deposits each in its own bromeliad. Instantly, Mia wanted to be a tree frog. She asked my to make a tadpole from construction paper and tape it to her back. Then she went out in the yard and climbed a tree. I tried to reel her back in, but either she forgot everything she's learned about math in the past 6 weeks, or I failed to recapture her attention. School canceled due to total lack of focus.

Then today, I broke out the funtastic frogs and the balance to attempt something fun, yet math related. Well, about one minute in, she wanted to be the balance. I worked with this by having her hold an item in each hand and guess which was heavier. Then she placed the items on the real balance to check.

Learning to Ride

Here's a bike riding tip I picked up last week. Take the pedals off the bike and lower the seat until the child can place her feet on the ground. Then the child can become comfortable with balancing without having to worry about pedaling.


First, Mia only took her feet off the ground for a few feet:


But pretty soon, she was coasting all over the place:


We're going to put the pedals on this weekend and see what happens.

Class Cancelled On Account of Beautiful Weather

The weather forecast was sunny and 75 degrees for today, with rain later in the week. So, I did that flexible homeschooler thing and took the kids to the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. I've been meaning to check it out for awhile, but it always seemed so far away. In fact, it took us less than 15 minutes and was well worth the trip. They have a great water garden where we saw a frog, a lizard and various butterflies and dragonflies. Sidewalks ran through all of the gardens, making it easy to take the stroller. The baby loved the streams and waterfalls that ran close to the path.

Naturally, I discovered the camera battery was dead and didn't get one picture. But here is one shamelessly pirated from their website:
A good time was had by all and we even got home in time to do math.

Olympic Byproduct

We've been watching a lot of Olympic coverage. We experienced an immediate rise in jumping off furniture, somersaulting across the living room and sprinting down the hall. No problem. I expected it. I did the same thing when I was a kid. But I did not expect to hear this: "Mom, can I have some Coke with lunch? So I can support Olympic dreams".

First Day Done

It went as well as it could have. The baby slept late, allowing me to take some first day pictures and give Mia her schuletute.


Mia did a handwriting worksheet as I nursed the baby. We read a poem. After completing all the readings for Animals and their Worlds she stated "I've had a lot of stories. When are we going to do school?" Hmmmm. So I broke it up by showing a video of a blue-ringed octopus on the net.

We made brownies (definitely the highlight of the day) and the bowl was licked to the first chapter of Our Island Story. Lunch was prepared and eaten to an audio recording of Charlotte's Web. We read a story from the James Herriot Treasury while we waited for the baby to take a nap. At nap time we worked on math for about 20 minutes. It was 12:15 and we were done.

Peter Pan

We got a jump on the school year by reading Peter Pan. I'd never read it. It's quite short and an easy read. Very worth the effort. Don't report me to the Charlotte Mason police, but after finishing the book, we watched the Disney movie version. I tried to make it edifying by asking Mia if she noticed any differences between the book and the movie.

Tomorrow's The Big Day

We start first grade tomorrow. I wanted to do something to mark the occasion. I finally settled on a schuletute, which is traditionally given to German schoolchildren on the first day of school. Ours is filled with plastic jungle animals and Skittles:


Some of the books we will be using this year:

So, Do You Respond...

to a comment left by an unmedicated schizophrenic on a post you wrote four years ago?

YEP THAT IS YOU, NOT ALL AMERICANS. HOW DARE YOU ACT LIKE FLAGWAVING IS NOT FASCISM! NO WMD, JUST RACIST ATTACK OF A SOVEREIGN NATION WHOSE DICTATOR CONVEINENTLY WAS A PUPPET OF THE NAZI'S BUSH EMPIRE. YOU ARE A BETRAYOR OF THE CONSTITUTION AND EVERY TIME I SEE A FLAG WAVING IT REMINDS ME OF THE FOURTH REICH THAT HAS TAKEN YOUR MIND AND YOUR SOUL. REAL AMERICANS DON'T FLY FLAGS, WE PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION. EVERY PERSON WHO FLYS A FLAG IS LETTING THE GOVERNMENT KNOW, "I SUPPORT THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA" AND "I AM A MINDLESS, THOUGHTLESS, SOULLESS SUPPORTER OF EVIL". GODBLESS THE CONSTITUTION AND THE REAL PATRIOTS, WHO ARE LOYAL TO TRUTH, INTEGRITY AND THE HUMAN RACE. THE AMERICAN FLAG IS A WHITE SUPREMIST SYMBOL. THE CONSTITUTION IS FREEDOM. WAKE UP. HEIL BUSH!

I'm thinking "No". I wanted to edit it for brevity, but it's so packed full of whacky goodness that I just didn't know where to start.

Choosing Charlotte Mason

School planning for fall is almost complete. I've decided on a Charlotte Mason approach which might amuse you, if you knew us. All that nature walk, spend 6 hours a day outside stuff is probably (definitely) not going to happen. None of us are outdoorsy. We are, in fact, devoted indoors men. In the words of Scott Adams, "if I wanted anything that was outdoors, I'd hire someone to bring it inside where civilization lives."

Having said that, it is a goal of mine to get outside more, so I've come around regarding the outdoorsy aspect of CM. I think it will prompt me to get outside even if I can't follow all her recommendations fully.

But what actually attracted me to CM was the combination of twaddle-free books and narration. My daughter has fine-motor delays which cause great difficulty writing. However, she has no cognitive delays and is actually a quick learner. Every rigorous curriculum that I looked at (and those not so rigorous) required a tremendous amount of writing for even the youngest child. Workbooks, copy work. It's just not possible for her right now.

Last year, I bought a kindergarten in a box program, thinking I would shoot for the middle and modify. Well, that was $100 I might as well have flushed. The writing was still too hard and everything else was too easy. And the curriculum was so integrated that I found it impossible to modify. I had the frustrating feeling that we were falling behind in areas where she could excel because she couldn't keep up with the writing.

Imagine my joy upon finding Ambleside and discovering that CM didn't even recommend written narration until the 4th year. I love that the non-writing aspect is integral to the program, not something I'm trying to jerry-rig. I don't really have the confidence to do major modifications to a program and, with a baby in the house, I don't have the time.

I'd already decided to do Winter Promise's Animals and Their Worlds, because Mia loves animals and I love a schedule all laid out. The best part: AW has a option for K-1 and another for 2nd and up all included on the same schedule. You just buy the schedule and a different book package for whichever option you choose. So naturally, I bought the schedule only and a mix of books from each of the options to cover our needs. I'm very optimistic about this program.

I'll be covering history, geography and literature with Ambleside Year 1. We'll substitute the recommended copy work, with our handwriting program (HWT) and, hopefully, some poetry memorization.

Add in Math-U-See: Alpha and we're pretty much done.

If that goes well, there's art, music, foreign language and probably more to add in later. We start officially on August 18th, so wish us luck.

My Brush With Fame

I forgot to mention my opportunity to shake hands with former Virginia governor, Mark Warner. His campaign for Senate took him to the same restaurant in which I was lunching. My sister, an actual Virginia resident, recognized him right away and he came over to chat.

He's all about cutting through party politics to get things done. Aren't they all? But he seems to be making it work. None of the (albeit) small sample of people I talked to could remember his party affiliation.

Update: I guess they'll know he's a Democrat now.

Phobia I Didn't Know I Had

I never knew I was afraid of bats, until I found one on the third floor of my sister's old Victorian flopping around between me and the only exit. Just like in the cartoons, I pointed and soundlessly mouthed the words "Baaaa, baaaa, baaaatttt." It was sad, really.

So If you're ever in Pearisburg...

My dad's coffee shop in Pearisburg, VA got a write-up in the Roanoke Times. So, if you're hiking the Appalachian Trail, stop by and say hello.

Update:

"Mom, that lady has a tattoo on her face"

says my 7yo at top volume about a lady who was twice my size and, in reality, had piercings on her face. Okay, let's go over it again. We don't make comments about how other people look because we might embarrass someone (or get mommy beat up).

Un-freakin-believable

Did you see this? I have a baby about this age if something like this happened to her, the only thing keeping me out of prison would be my husband's restraining influence. Although in this case, I think I might be able to beat the rap.

Really, are teenage boys expected to be this stupid? I can't imagine the shame I would suffer as a parent if I raised a child to the age of 16 only to find he was capable of something like this.

Sweeney Todd

What was I thinking? Oh yeah, I was thinking I love me some Johnny Depp. And some Tim Burton. And it got good reviews. And, technically, it was good. But yikes! That movie had more arterial spray than three seasons of CSI. The ending could have been poignant, but by then, I was too busy wishing it was over to care.

My Big Fat Carbon Footprint

I have a standing shipment of protein bars that comes from Amazon once a month. It's just a small box, so I thought I would save the planet by combining that order with a few books I wanted. So I ordered the books and hit the "combine orders" button. Sorry, these orders cannot be combined. But wait, now I have 2 small orders being shipped separately. Let's order another book I was going to order eventually and combine it with the second order to justify the shipping. Sorry, these orders cannot be combined. Well, less than 30 seconds have passed. Let's just cancel that extra book. Sorry, we're already working on this order. You can't cancel it. Of course, they shipped some items separately, so received 4 shipments in three days. The UPS guy is going to think I have a crush on him.

Priorities

Says Charlotte Church, mother of a nine month old and pregnant with #2: ''We want to have our babies young and then I'm going to get married and look fabulous for that."

She wants up to 6 kids before 32. Does she think she's going to look more fabulous after 10 years and 5 more kids than she does right now? Well, I guess she has enough money to buy her body back, but still. No time to squeeze in a wedding between #1 and #2? I've heard lots of excuses for putting off a wedding, but waiting until after the birth of all the kids you're ever going to have is a new one.

I guess no one cares about illegitimacy anymore. I can't say I care a lot. I have a youngish female relative who is expecting, but not planning to marry the father. My mother (in her 60's) is horrified that they won't marry "just to give the baby a name." Can't say I even thought about that. But I wouldn't continue to have kids with a guy who wouldn't marry me, or who I didn't want to marry. Terribly old-fashioned of me.

Dog Party

Mia wanted a dog-themed birthday party. Check out these cute dog cakes I got from Target:


They're each made from two jumbo cupcakes. The day I picked these up, they had a lion in the display case that was so cute, it made me wish we'd done a jungle theme. $4.99 a piece.

Softening Michelle's Image

The NT Times has an article out today trying to rescue Michelle Obama's image. It's not working for me. She really has to stop saying what a trial it was to go to Princeton. That's a trial only a few have the privilege of suffering through.

The author notes she was one of 94 black students in a class of 1100. Hmmm. That's nearly 9%. Since blacks are around 10%, I'm not sure why she feels the situation was so unreasonable.
Maybe her perception was a little skewed. From the article:

“Diversity can’t be taken care of with 10 kids,” she says. “There is an isolation that comes with that.”

10 kids. Or 94 kids. Or (94 x 4 classes) 376 kids. Whatever. It's all bad. And I guess that's my issue with her. Everything America has to offer has been laid at her feet. And she's still not happy. 95% of the people her husband would presume to govern have less than she does. It's just unseemly to whine about it.

Going Green in Greensburg

Remember Greensburg, Kansas, wiped of the face of the map by a massive tornado last year? Well, the town elders decided to take the opportunity of a blank slate to rebuild the town in an entirely green fashion and, what the heck, do a reality show for the Green Channel. Who knew there was a green channel? I didn't, until this weekend. It's one of Discovery's many channels.

Anyway, I found the first episode interesting and, even though it is a Leo DeCaprio production, I intend to continue watching. He may be putting his money where his mouth is this time. And I'm curious to see what solutions they come up with. I live in an area undergoing rapid (sub)urban sprawl and it never ceases to amaze me that subdivision after subdivision goes up with no obvious concern for energy conservation. You'd think a house that was cheap to heat and cool would be a big seller, at least here on the plains.

Ladies First

A guest on a local public affairs radio show just related this story her grandmother told about arriving at Ellis Island from Slovenia. When an official came around with a basket of apples, all the men pushed forward. The official said "Now, now. Ladies first." When the women figured out what he meant, one of them said "God bless America, where ladies come first."

Mini Frittatas

My latest self-improvement project involves cooking better meals for the family. Alas, they have excluded so many foods that I might as well have decided to climb Everest. In pursuit of my impossible dream of eating from all four food groups, I've taken to checking out what's on Food Network and recording shows that look like they're featuring something my family might eat. I watch the shows when the mood strikes and, if a recipe looks good, I can get it from the Food Network website.

Here's one that actually worked: Mini Frittatas. You can substitute any kind of meat and cheese. I used bacon bits and shredded cheddar, because that's all I had. It was hard to pour out. Next time, I think I'll placed the cheese and meat in the muffin cups and pour the egg mixture on top.

Another First

The Jetta takes premium, so I had the privilege of paying over $4 per gallon for gas for the first time today; $4.12 to be exact. Luckily, the Jetta gets pretty good gas mileage. Couple that with me not driving terribly far and it should be 2 weeks before I have to do that again.

Coincidentally, while I was waiting to pick up Mia from camp, the local public affairs radio show was discussing a plan for light rail in the KC metro area. The mayor of KCMO mentioned how those people in [my part of town] make enough money to not be terrorized by the price of gas. I guess he's right. I'd rather drop $50 on something else, but it's just a bummer, not a budget buster (yet).

Ouch

Bill Bennett:

And thus the Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military and political record. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of John Kerry, albeit without Kerry’s record of years of service in the Senate. The Democratic party is about to nominate an unvetted candidate in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, albeit without Jimmy Carter’s religious integrity as he spoke about it in 1976.

Chinese Culture Camp

We're lucky to have a branch of the University of Kansas' Confucius Institute a few miles from our house. They offer various summer programs for kids and today was Mia's first day of Chinese Culture Camp. She liked it so much she wanted to go back for the afternoon session, in which, alas, I did not enroll her, never dreaming she would tolerate that much camp.

She did Chinese skip jumping, learned a few Chinese words and did some drawing. She also learned that China was near France and Egypt. Hmmm. I wonder what they were actually trying to say.

If she's still loving at the end of the week, I'll enroll her for Chinese language camp later in the summer. Alas, there is no prayer of me helping her with her Chinese. She's on her own for that one.

Make Your Own Graph

Some of these are pretty funny:


more graph humor and song chart memes


more graph humor and song chart memes

Craft of the Month

I'm not very crafty, but crafts are something I feel we should do, so whenever I see one that looks easy, we give it a go. Result: Mother's Day cards for the grandmas:


The flower on the outside comes from Kids Craft Weekly. They send out an email with lots of great crafts, but I'm embarrassed to admit that most of them are too difficult for us. We lack both fine motor skills and patience around here, but we are working on both.