Friday's news

Flat broke and sort of curious to see how the Lord handles this one. :) There are times when exercising my faith is an adventure, and something that thrills me. 'Course it's nice to have groceries in the house BEFORE this happens, as now. I can feed 'em through Sunday, but after that it's out of my hands. I love it that He's in charge, and not me. Well, in all honestly, I'm not always so calm. But this time, I figure, why not.

Thankful for work in Gary's shop (just will have to wait for payment for a bit more since he's got a project he's still working on), and for healthy kids. Husband is hanging onto a cough that's lingered since we all had a cold awhile back. He's still stuffy, so I can blame congestion, but still......glad it's leaving, slowly but surely. But consider that he's got his head in the sawdust on a daily basis, most folks would cough.

About to take a bit of a nap, then will whip the house into shape for company we're having to dinner. Not a high pressure guest, but I want the house to feel/look a bit more presentable. Vacuuming, dusting, a pumpkin candle, and we're set. Okay, I'm simplifying it a bit, but you get my drift. Don't want to be tired, but a happy hostess. And cleaning like a fool won't help my cause at all!

Must be off. Enjoy your day!

But for Your Grace

We all bow down

Madness will set in shortly

Olive the wonder dog, our Yellow Lab. who appears to have survived a bout of cancer back in the spring (which I'm totally thankful for---honest), is annoying the daylights out of me. She's begun waking up at around 4am or so this week, thinking she wants to go outside, while in reality, she's only disturbed that her younger sister---our Shepherd Opal---has taken over the covers. Nuts.

My problem is that I can rarely get back to sleep after her escapades. I hear the click, click, click of her nails on the kitchen floor only after the slight bump of her sliding the baby gate to the side of the dining room doorway so she can make her way to our bedroom door. My hearing is phenomenal.

I think as I've gotten older the things that have been most difficult to manage have been: sleep and lack of privacy. Even now I find myself typing quickly because I know one of our sons will be up in about 10 minutes. Then the fiasco of letting dogs out/feeding them, and hopefully a tiny nap for me before the rest of the house wakes up. I'll tell you, I have to be up in the middle of the night to get any peace and quiet. Oh, I forgot. Olive messes up that plan.

Must put on my happy hat, hmmm? I sometimes feel that my brain has been removed and stretched tightly over a flat surface. I'm not as bright as I used to be (or maybe I kid myself), and the days are getting much, much shorter.

On the up side, I'm have lunch out with an out-of-town friend today. If I can really slip in that nap, that ought to be fun. We'll see (lovely phrase---a parent's last defense).

Folks

Burning bushes all aglow

Photo of the front porch taken by one of our sons, who's a dab hand at taking pictures...love the blurry warmth of it. :)

'The Fallacy Detective' by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn

‘The Fallacy Detective’ by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn is just wonderful. I’m partial to having my brain teased anyway, so this book is perfect for those times when the reader needs to feel the strain of a good think. Our children have enjoyed it as well, having fun asking one another questions and getting a laugh when they’re wrong!

The book in itself is so well-done, even beyond the exercises. Design-wise it’s very appealing, and the addition of cartoons (rare in my experience of teaching critical thinking), makes this soft cover book very user friendly. The fonts and layout are also well handled making this book excellent all around. In addition, the Bluedorns have set up a website specifically to go hand in hand with this book (www.thefallacydetective.com) and their other critical thinking materials.

If you’re concerned about your children knowing how to reason well, and want a resource that covers the topic thoroughly, I highly recommend this book. With many home schooling materials involving the subject of critical reasoning appearing to be trite or hard to understand, the opposite is true with ‘The Fallacy Detective’. And while it’s directed at individuals from 12 years on up to adults, I’m finding that I might need this resource even more than our children.