Ordinary life

This morning while I was doing up my hair, my youngest brother stayed with me in the bathroom making "owl noises" all the while. After that he followed me to the dining room and demonstrated how he shoots his plastic pistol.... people don't realize what it means when we say, "Yes, he is cute, but he talks constantly." What we mean is, he talks ALL THE TIME(24/7/365), and not in a whisper, in a YELL. I love my brothers, but it is nice to get away to the office for a whole day of quiet. What kind of mother would I make, I wonder?

So today the boys are supposed to clean house for our guests; I hope they remember to mop, because Caleb got honey on the floor and Andrew spilled bubbles yesterday.

Here's a video for you to watch from Wednesday. It is of Congressman Geoff Davis of Kentucky, and it is only one minute long.

Laconic

I just love the story of this word.

A laconic man is a person of few words;he is blunt and brief in what he has to say.

We get this word from the Laconians of Greece:
An Athenian herald told them: "If we come to your city, we will raze it to the ground". The Laconians merely answered, "If."

Wikipedia has a few more examples:

• Herodotus wrote that when before the Battle of Thermopylae, Dienekes the Spartan was told the Persian arrows would be so numerous as to blot out the sun. He responded with "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade." Today Dienekes's phrase is the motto of the Greek 20th Armored Division.
• On the morning of the third and final day of the battle, Leonidas, knowing they were being surrounded, exhorted his men, "Eat well, for tonight we dine in Hades."(They were obviously pagans!)
• When asked by a woman from Attica, "Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?" Gorgo replied, "Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men."
• Spartan mothers or wives gave a departing warrior his shield with the words: "With it or on it!", implying that he should return (victoriously) with his shield, or (his cremated body in an urn) upon it, but by no means after saving himself by throwing away his heavy shield and fleeing.
• When a Spartan complained to his mother that his sword was too short, she replied, "It would be long enough if you took a step forward."

Some of you may recognize these Spartan sayings from the movie "300" , which I have not seen and I don't plan to- the level of violence is a bit more than I want to see. And it has all those great special effects and graphics- what a waste!

Birthdays and books.

Yesterday we had an elderly lady over for dinner because her 80th birthday was last week. Mom gave her a birthday gift of Kidney/bladder tincture treatment. Kind of an odd birthday gift, but I guess if it made her happy.... and at that age most people probably could use that kind of gift, anyway!

I had a dentist appointment today, and I am glad to report that I have no cavities. I celebrated by eating a piece of chocolate. Ha ha! I am grateful for my healthy teeth, but I have a premonition that my love of chocolate will someday, perhaps, catch up to them.... but until then, vive la chocolate!

Today's book list:
Nathan J. Stone's "Names of God", I've really been enjoying it, and I highly recommend it. I just finished the chapter about "Adonai".
"Beginning German", copyright 1906. For some reason, the German language just really turned me off, so I decided not to finish it. Maybe I will learn enough to translate tombstone inscriptions, but that can wait until the summer.
"How I know God answers prayer", by Rosalind Goforth. I believe the story of the Goforths is still fairly well known- they were missionaries to China during the boxer rebellion. This book by Mrs. Goforth is all about answered prayers in her life.
"Words you thought you knew." by Jenna Glatzer. Kind of like a dictionary to help people better understand the words they use, and to explain how those words are often mis-used.
"Word origins and their romantic stories." So far I've only read the first two chapters, and I haven't gotten to any romantic stories yet. I did learn about how our alphabet was formed- very interesting.

Laughing is good for you

Mom laughed until she cried tonight because Jonny showed up for storytime wearing only sweatpants and huge underwater goggles, making him the envy of his brothers. He really looked hilarious, and so nonchalant. Just before this he spent five minutes banging a strange kind of Morse code on the kitchen floor with a yardstick trying to get Caleb to come upstairs.

Boys!

Caleb and I also had a good laugh about Tai Chi- besides the exercise class named "Tai Chi", we were so sure there was a kind of tea called Tai Chi, and it took us awhile to remember that it's actually Chai Tea.

So we've had a few good laughs this evening.

Today I...

Boiled chicken, cut it off the bone, put it back in the pot with vegetables, made noodles for the soup, then bagged it up to give away. Even used leeks this time, which gave it a good flavor. Made cookie dough, froze it in rolls, also to give away. Made chocolate sauce for Easter. Started the ham for tomorrow's lunch. Made cinnamon rolls for tomorrow's breakfast(Mom says we have to get up early for our very own Easter Sunrise service). Check everyone's hair for cleanliness, clean up from dinner, set out utensils for tomorrow, dole out medicine for colds, pacify, instruct and reprimand the boys.

A very productive day.

Home schoolers and Civic involvement

You can buy the whole study by Brian Ray about home schoolers here. My sister and I did political work in the last election and loved it. We plan to do it again.

Why do people ask this question?

It's a LILY-TROD!

I caught a slight cold, which is why I haven't been posting- I missed a day at work, so no high speed internet and no capacity to think. Our four year old came up to me today and said, "let's Alaska kiss!" Meaning, an Eskimo kiss. A very rare and tempting offer, and if my nose wasn't running I'd accept. He also violently insists that flamingos are really named "Lilytrods" and I have no idea why. He is such a hyper boy, but then again, aren't all boys hyper?