| January 31 2008 |
|
Untitled
No more blogging from Cindy. And what she writes to go out on!
My laptop screen has died, and my computer time has suddenly become drastically limited. But maybe that's not such a bad thing. Category:General Posted by Sora at 6 : 50 pm | Leave a note {1} |
| January 25 2008 |
|
IS HE ELECTABLE? DOES IT MATTER?
As I write, there have been votes cast in only 7 states primaries or caucuses -- that means there are 43 states still to go. Isn't it a little early to decide that a candidate "can't win"? Do the voters of Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, Nevada, Wyoming, South Carolina, and Louisiana get to decide for the whole nation? If there was a clear "front-runner" coming out of these early states it might be suggestive of a national trend... but there isn't. RON PAUL has come in ahead of EVERY OTHER CANDIDATE in AT LEAST ONE STATE. Someone who was canvassing for Ron Paul in South Carolina the week before the primary reported that almost 1/3 of the people he talked to said they liked Ron Paul's positions and what he had to say... but they weren't going to vote for him because "he couldn't win". If this percentage held true throughout the State, and if all those people had voted their conscience, Ron Paul would have won South Carolina. When "blind" telephone polls have been taken, where the biography, history and positions of a candidate are given but not their name, Ron Paul wins them by an overwhelming majority. If everyone says Ron Paul can't win, and then doesn't vote for him because he can't win, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the media keeps saying Ron Paul can't win, and people keep believing them and voting for the candidates who are approved by the talking heads on the television set, then the media has taken over our representative republic. But IF people vote their conscience, then, YES, RON PAUL CAN STILL WIN THE NOMINATION. There is a science fiction story which mentions in an offhand way a world in which the people are ruled by lizards. It includes the following conversation: "The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people." If you disagree with Ron Paul's strict constitutionalism or his economic theories or don't like his character or his voting record or his plans for the country, or just really like Mitt Romney's hair, by all means vote for someone else. But if you LIKE HIM BEST OF THE CANDIDATES WHO ARE RUNNING, and vote for someone else because they are more "electable", then you have just played into the hands of the media. The real vote that "doesn't count" is a compromise vote for the "less evil" lizard. Category:General Posted by Sora at 3 : 22 pm | Leave a note {3} |
| January 22 2008 |
|
THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES GET EVEN MORE INTERESTING
Quite the day. Norma McCorvey endorsed Ron Paul. Fred Thompson dropped out. The Huckster and the Ghoul are out of money. Meanwhile, Ron took in 1.85 million in donations yesterday and reports from the ground suggest that his delegate support in Nevada will be much higher than the straw poll percentages predict. His grassroots organization in Louisiana is also highly optimistic about taking the majority of delegates at the caucus this evening. And he now has more than 10,000 volunteers around the nation canvassing their own voting precincts. Volunteers who just got some really good talking points for potential voters who are worried about Ron's electability. I'll be voting for Ron Paul in November even if I have to write his name on the ballot. But I just got several new reasons to hope that I might not have to. Category:General Posted by Sora at 3 : 25 pm | Leave a note {0} |
|
IF GOLIATH PLAYED BASKETBALL
Since Aedan is playing on the 5th/6th grade basketball team this year, the younger kids have gotten very interested in the game. Over lunch today, ZZ announced, "Goliath was so tall, he would have to bend over to make a basket." Naomi responded, "If David and Goliath played basketball, then David would hit Goliath in the FOREHEAD! With the BASKETBALL! And it would KILL HIM!" (Giggle giggle.) Dangerous game, basketball. Category:Cute Kids Posted by Sora at 2 : 24 pm | Leave a note {1} |
| January 21 2008 |
|
PANTS
Isaiah, who just had his second birthday, is not potty-trained yet, but he probably would be if Hosanna were not the World's Crankiest Baby. He likes to sit on the potty, and he's has a fair amount of success there. He also likes to remove his diaper every time it gets wet. He usually leaves the room I'm in, takes off the diaper and puts it in the garbage, and then puts his pants back on. I don't realize he's not wearing a diaper until I notice that his pants are backwards (for some reason he always puts them back on backwards.) This is particularly amusing when they are zip-fly pants rather than elastic-waist pants. He also likes to get a different pair of pants out of his dresser than the ones I had originally dressed him in. Perhaps this makes him feel grown-up and autonomous, but it also helps clue me in when he's removed his diaper. This morning he added a new twist. He was actually up before Matt left for work, which is not usual, so Matt was dressing him. He ran off to play after getting a new diaper and pants but before Matt put his shirt on. I came into the room a few minutes later, saw the shirt on the floor, and went to track down the shirtless child. I found him looking through dresser drawers (presumably seeking a shirt of his choice). The shirtless child was now wearing a different pair of pants than the ones Matt had dressed him in, and they were on backwards. But the pants belonged to his older brother and were four sizes too big for him. A highly comical sight. Since -- for a change -- he did not remove his diaper this time, I didn't try to change the pants. I get a chuckle every time I see him walking around with the size 6 pants flapping around his ankles. Category:Cute Kids Posted by Sora at 8 : 13 am | Leave a note {3} |
| January 16 2008 |
|
RON PAUL ON HOME BIRTH
I thought I'd blogged this back in November, but I see I didn't. A midwife in North Carolina had posted the following letter, describing Ron Paul's position on midwifery and home birth, to the NC Friends of Midwives Yahoogroup. At the end she mentions that she hopes her husband got it all on tape. The clip is now (finally) on YouTube: (letter below the break) More... Category:Childbearing Posted by Sora at 9 : 49 am | Leave a note {4} |
| December 18 2007 |
|
HOSANNA GETS POLITICALLY ACTIVE
We've made two of these so far, and have scripts written for about 4 more. Category:Cute Kids Posted by Sora at 10 : 05 am | Leave a note {4} |
| December 14 2007 |
|
A SISYPHUS MORNING
I stayed up too late last night making truffles on a deadline, and now I'm reaping the consequences. I woke up much too late. Isaiah was yelling from his crib. Hosanna was screaming to be nursed. Both of them badly needed a new diaper. ZZ and Naomi were asking for breakfast. The kitchen table was covered in chocolate drips from the truffle marathon that I didn't clean up before I went to bed. All the clothes that fit me were buried in the seven loads of clean laundry that I didn't get around to folding yesterday. And everything I did get done yesterday -- with the sole exception of the truffles, which will all be eaten within the next two weeks anyway -- needs to be done again today: cleaning the kitchen, washing dishes, washing toddlers, feeding baby, feeding everyone else, tidying the house, vacuuming, homeschooling ZZ, speech therapy homework with Naomi, changing diapers, posting to my birth blog. Well, I can try to do it cheerfully and hope no one knocks on my door before nap-time. By the time nap-time rolls around I'm usually on top of most of it and feeling less Sisyphus-like, even though I know the house I've beaten into submission will erupt into messy chaos again as soon as the kids get home from school and Isaiah gets up from his nap. Where no oxen are, etc. The baby is finished nursing, so it's time to go push that rock up the hill again. Category:General Posted by Sora at 9 : 42 am | Leave a note {2} |
| December 05 2007 |
|
A STICKY SITUATION
Because last night was Mars Hill's Christmas program, which ran fairly late into the evening, school did not start until 10:00 a.m. today. This made for a nice leisurely morning for Matt and the older kids. When I came downstairs with Isaiah (almost 2) and Hosanna (1 month) Matt was in the kitchen doing some clean-up left over from last night's rush, had made breakfast, and appeared to have everything well under control. This was welcome, since my usual morning routine for the past couple of weeks has involved giving cold cereal to the three preschoolers while the baby hangs off my arm screaming, making sure there is nothing left out on the table that Isaiah could make a disaster with, and then sitting downon the couch and nursing / burping / changing for about two hours straigh before taking on any other household tasks. The baby has a bad cold and right after she wakes up is a very fussy time. By the middle of the morning she settles down in thesling and I can get things done. So today I'm sitting on the couch with the pathetic stuffed up baby. By and by, Matt heads out to shovel the driveway and then calls the older kids to leave for school. Unbeknownst to me, the three of them have left (on the kitchen table within easy toddler reach) a pot half full of oatmeal, an almost full gallon of milk, an almost full squeeze bottle of honey, and an almost full 1-lb package of brown sugar. Those of you with toddlers probably can guess what kind of mess I found when I got to the kitchen. My husband, though a wonderful man in many ways, is in denial about toddlers. Living with a constant succession of them has not helped. When he hears about some new outrageous escapade from the current 2-year-old, his most usual response is, "He needs to NOT DO THAT!" It should have occurred to me that pre-emptive prevention of toddler messes is not an automatic part of his breakfast routine, but it didn't, and so the first I knew about the whole thing was when Isaiah came into the living room carrying the (almost empty) squeeze bottle of honey, and covered from head to toe in brown sugar. Category:General Posted by Sora at 12 : 49 pm | Leave a note {15} |
| November 30 2007 |
|
PREDICTIONS
DHM at the Common Room posted on this article from 1901 predicting what life would be life a century later. Some of the predictions are spot-on, others are (from our current perspective) laughable. Did you know that by the year 2000, mankind was to have eliminated rats, mice, mosquitos, and flies! Someone clearly didn't get the memo. We were also supposed to have managed to breed blue, black, and green roses by now. Category:General Posted by Sora at 11 : 47 am | Leave a note {2} |
| November 12 2007 |
|
HIDE-AND-SEEK
Matt and (most of) the kids are playing hide-and-seek before bed. It is Naomi's turn to be "it." Matt and ZZ were starting to hide near the laundry room when Matt noticed that Naomi was watching him from the living room. "Hey! You're not supposed to be looking! You need to hide your eyes!" "NO!" Naomi replied. "I don't need to HIDE. I need to COUNT." Matt called to me -- sitting on the couch nursing the baby -- "Help Naomi count, honey." But Naomi did not need any help from me. "EIGHTEEN! Four! Three! Eleven! Ready or not, HERE I COME!" Category:Cute Kids Posted by Sora at 8 : 10 pm | Leave a note {1} |
| November 10 2007 |
|
RON PAUL ON REAL MILK
From David Gumpert's blog: Pretty cool that Rep. (and presidential candidate) Ron Paul got up in the House of Representatives earlier this week and proposed a law permitting interstate commerce of raw milk. If you aren't aware of "the California controversy", read through the last week or two of posts on David's blog. Category:Real Milk Posted by Sora at 9 : 55 am | Leave a note {0} |
| November 07 2007 |
|
WE HAVE A NAME! (AND A BABY)
Well, everyone who checks Matt's blog already knows we had a baby yesterday. She has been a very needy little person so I haven't had time to get on the computer (with hands free to type) until now. Hosanna Keturah Colvin (sorry, no consolation prizes will be given to those who suggested names we didn't use) was born at noon yesterday, Nov. 6. She is, by my midwife's best estimate, about three weeks early and definitely seems to think she should have gotten to stay in longer! 
(birth story and more pics below the break) More... Category:Childbearing Posted by Sora at 5 : 06 pm | Leave a note {25} |
| November 03 2007 |
|
WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO (other than gestating)
As someone with a vested interest in continued access to homebirth midwives in Ohio, I have found myself (as of sometime in October) the chair of the PR committee of a recently formed grassroots consumer organization intended to push for a change in Ohio's legislation. I have discovered in working for Ohio Families for Safe Birth, or OFSB, that I have a lot more useable time than I thought I did... at least, a lot more useable computer time (one does a fair bit of sitting around at this point in pregnancy...) Ohio has no laws regulating direct-entry midwifery and for many years has been considered a state where midwifery is not explicitly legal, but generally tolerated. Many midwives like being in an unregulated state, with no licensure board looking over their protocols, and the general belief has been that as long as they don't cross the invisible "practicing medicine" line or have a bad outcome, they're pretty safe. This is changing. Last month, a local midwife's home was raided and her equipment and files seized. Because charges have not been filed yet, I can't give more details, but one of the items specifically named on the search warrant was names, addresses and information about other unlicensed midwives. This is not an isolated incident, but part of a coordinated effort to eliminate independent midwives in all unregulated states. My main project for OFSB has been overseeing the design, and writing or adapting almost all of the content, for the new webpage (someone who actually knows what they're doing did the actual coding.) It is finally ready: the Ohio Families for Safe Birth website, and I am quite proud of it. As part of our ongoing PR strategy, I have also set up an OFSB blog, which I (and perhaps some other people as well) will be posting to, hopefully daily. You can get to it directly at safebirthohio.org/blog/. I set the blog up all by myself, because the real web designer was busy fixing a horrible glitch in the style sheet that only showed up in Windows XP IE browsers. It was surprisingly straightforward. We may have to stop paying Upsaid for something I actually know how to do myself now. Category:General Posted by Sora at 2 : 27 pm | Leave a note {3} |
| October 31 2007 |
|
NAME THAT BABY
I see that Humble Amy now has well over 150 comments on her post soliciting ideas for baby girl names. I have no expectation of that kind of response, given the shameful way I've neglected my blog lately, but I do find myself in a similar dilemna: our sixth child is due to arrive sometime in the next 3 or 4 weeks, we have a pretty good idea of what we might name him, should he turn out to be a boy, but no real contenders for girls' names. So, suggestions welcome! Standard disclaimer: there is no guarantee that we'll use any of them, since we may or may not actually end up with a girl this time and we always make a point of getting to know the baby for a few hours before making a name decision; she may have ideas of her own. Our highly subjective naming rules: 1. Name must sound good with our last name (Colvin), both alone and with its middle name. 2. Name must not sound too similar to any child's name already used in the family. Saying the right child's name every time is difficult enough when the names all sound different. Since Ezekiel ended up nick-named "Zek'l" or "ZZ", and Isaiah is frequently shortened to "'Saiah" (pronounced "Zay-ah") any name beginning with "Zee" or "Zay" is liable to be ruled out unless it has an obvious, non-Z nickname or being considered as a middle name. 3. Name must not stick out like a sore thumb amongst the existing batch of children's names: so, no Kortneys or Mackenzies or LaQuishas, okay? Talia Anaïs Aedan Mattéo Ezekiel Barnabas Naomi Ruhamah Isaiah Immanuel 4. Sora will pretty much automatically veto any girl's name that has appeared on a top 100 list in the past 50 years. She remembers how a full 25% of the girls born in her year were named "Jennifer", and it bothers her greatly that every time she chooses a child's name she chooses a name that does not belong to anyone she knows at the time and every time, without fail, she meets at least 3-5 people within the first year of said child's life who have or have given their children said name. She finds the implications of this phenomenon deeply disturbing. 5. Matt doesn't like names that are too outlandish, although he is more lenient with this rule for girls' names than boys' names and much more lenient with middle names than first names. Finding a balance between rules #4 and #5 can sometimes be a real challenge. 6. The name should either come with a significant meaning, or a significant Biblical or historical character, or both. Category:Childbearing Posted by Sora at 1 : 08 pm | Leave a note {40} |
Parah paw-raw' Verb 1. to bear fruit, be fruitful, branch off a. (Qal) to bear fruit, be fruitful b. (Hiphil) 1. to cause to bear fruit 2. to make fruitful 3. to show fruitfulness, bear fruit 
 Post a new entry Links for RSS pages: RSS 0.91 RSS 1 RSS 2 
Buy my CD: (Get more information and hear sample tracks at the Kingdom Songs web page.) Blogs I read: My husband People I've met: Deb Miller Kyriosity Abby and John Whilin' Away the Hours Jon Amos Valerie Jacobsen People I'd like to meet someday: The Badgermum Knox Knox Who's There Mike and Kristen Stewart Buried Treasure Books The Common Room The Home Realm Scott and Leah Cindy Rick Saenz Guestbook View :: Sign View archived entries General (425) Tongue Meditations (63) Recipes (29) Cotton Mother Dolls (7) Gardening (4) Homeschooling (24) Books (36) Childbearing (13) Cute Kids (41) Grandma's List (1) Moving West! (35) Homesteading (21) Real Milk (6) Search through my entries |
|
 |