by jphilo | May 31, 2016 | Top Ten Tuesday
Since our daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and dog moved in a week or so ago, our house has been in a state of flux. Here are ten changes we’ve made, most of them to accommodate the most adorable 14-month-old baby in the house.
10. Though our fireplace is unused, it is irresistible to 1-year-olds. So the Man of Steel temporarily blocked it off with a cedar chest turned upside down and crowned with a wooden storage box built by the Man of Steel’s grandfather in the 1940s.
9. Other temporary baby-proofing efforts, which will eventually be replaced with proper gadgets, include wooden stools shoved against every bottom cupboard door, keeping closet and bathroom doors shut tight, and moving all live plants to the sun porch. Thank goodness it’s spring.
8. The refrigerator is fuller than normal and empties faster. More because of the baby’s parents than because of the baby. Except for humus, which the little one devours in copious amounts.
7. The laundry room is doing a brisk business. The baby wears cloth diapers. Need I say more?
6. Toys are everywhere. Some are the boy’s. Some are the dog’s. Some they share. Quite nicely, I might add.
5. Did you know red rocks red fit perfectly into tiny fists and are light-weight enough to be toddled from hither to yon? Which explains why the landscaping rocks outside the kitchen door are all over the sidewalk, in the grass, and on the cement ledge framing the herb garden.
4. Our home now suffers from a spoon shortage. Because when a certain child has to come inside without a lava rock in each fist, spoons are a good distraction. By mealtime, all the spoons are on the floor or where ever they have been deposited with logic that makes no sense to anyone over the age of 14 months.
3. A certain writer finds herself taking frequent breaks because her grandson insists she is the only adult in the house fit to play “I’m gonna get you” with him. While the writer’s novel is suffering, her grandson is not.
2. The house is full of baby squeals, especially during a game of “I’m gonna get you.”
1. Those squeals are accompanied by an infectious smile that sets both the Man of Steel and a certain writer to grinning so much their cheeks hurt.
How has your house been changing lately? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Jan 17, 2014 | Mystery Update
Can it be that 4 months have passed since my wonderful September visit to Harding County? In my mind, those days of beautiful weather when the sun shone through the gold-tipped leaves of the cottonwood trees seem like only a week or 2 in the past.
But the calendar doesn’t lie. And it says 4 months.
Much has happened in those months. A work trip to Michigan. The first draft of Every Child Welcome written. Thanksgiving at our house. Oktoberfest and Black Friday editions of Camp Dorothy, helping our kids move, conducting a special needs ministry workshop in Nebraska with Katie Wetherbee, and Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas celebrations from hither to yon.
All that jocularity–and recovering from it–meant the mystery novel was neglected for 4 months.
But not any more! Thanks to a couple weeks back in the saddle, Jane, the novel’s protagonist, and her story world saw the light of day again. Opening the file took a lot of guts, because during the 4 months just passed, I’d convinced myself the novel was no good. I was ready to scrap the whole manuscript and start from scratch.
But the main thing that changed while I read through the story was my mind.
Most of the manuscript actually held together, and the necessary changes can wait to be made until the first draft is complete. With a few exceptions. Two students, whose back stories have been lovingly prepared, from Jane’s primary class have to age 2 years and move into the intermediate classroom. And two intermediate students, who are presently strangers to Jane and me, must become 2 years younger and join her K–3 classroom.
This kind of change makes my former teacher’s heart–and Jane’s new teacher’s heart–cringe.
After all, Jane and I have gotten attached to those students! But the switch has to be made to simplify the cast of characters so people like you, dear reader, will be able to follow the plot line more easily. Therefore, once today’s quota of research for a newly contracted non-fiction book is reached and I’ve cleaned the bathrooms*, I’ll be writing back story for Beau and Beck, Jane’s new students. As well as back story for their grandparents and guardians, Burt and Verna Kelly. Now, if you’re wondering why Beau and Beck live with their grandparents, you’re getting close to the heart of the mystery.
My resolve to not provide any further enlightenment about that remains unchanged.
As does the purpose of this post. Which is to keep the project in the forefront of your consciousness, even when the author goes AWAL for 4 months, and to provide tantalizing hints that will compel you to purchase the book if and when it is published.
In the meantime, stay tuned for changes to come!
*Yes, an author’s life is really that glamorous.
by jphilo | Mar 25, 2013 | Reflections on the Past
The other day, II had lunch with a friend who’s a junior in high school. On the way to our favorite Chinese restaurant, we drove by the former site of Bryant Elementary School. It used to look like this:
Now it looks like this:
We both commented about how weird it was for the building where we had many good memories (I used to teach there) obliterated.
The conversation made me think of what’s happened to the other workplaces in my past. Sky Ranch for Boys, where Hiram and I worked from the late 70s through the early 80s closed a few years back. Several of those buildings have been bought and moved to different locations–a rather disconcerting thought.
One of the tan and brown buildings where I taught in Camp Crook from 1980–1985 has been replaced with a new grey building. Which needed to be done, But if they chose to replace only one building, couldn’t they have chosen the one I taught in for the least number of years?
Also, my Grace Community Church Director of Discipleship and Assimilation digs–back in the days when the church rented downtown office space in the basement of the Livery–is now the kitchen of The Good News Room Coffee Shop. The owners have done a bang-up job with the space and decor, but it’s strange to order a cup of coffee and think, “Hmmm, right there where the sink is? That’s where my desk used to be.
All these changes take some getting used to, but I’m adjusting. Except for one thing. Considering the track record of my former workplaces and the fact that these days I work from home, do you think it would be wise for us to up our homeowner’s insurance?
by jphilo | Nov 30, 2012 | Daily Life
Digital native. A reporter used the term in her article in the November issue of our local community magazine.The story was about raising a family in the digital age, and while reading two things grew increasingly clear: A digital native I’m not, and parenting has changed from the the olden days when our kids were little.
The article made me think about how my Grandma Josie, who lived from 1896-1996, felt during the technological revolution that radically changed her daily life. In her 99 years, she witnessed the advent and widespread use of
automobiles,
airplanes,
tractors and other engine-driven farm machinery,
telephones,
electricity,
indoor plumbing,
moving pictures,
phonographs,
radio,
black and white television,
color television,
automatic washers and dryers,
dishwashers,
air conditioning,
electric sewing machines, irons, and small kitchen appliances,
electric and gas cook stoves,
ice boxes,
and refrigerators.
She saw the first man go into space, watched several astronauts walk on the moon, and was still alive when personal computers and cell phones first entered the market. For decades, I had wondered how the constant changes made her feel. I marveled at how she adapted to change after change, how she welcomed and embraced many of them.
Reading the article about toddlers using iPads, teens programming their Direct TV connection to update them about Fantasy Football, and entire families dependent upon laptops and smart phones, I finally understood why Grandma eventually quit trying to change. At some point in last few decades of her life the gap between her life as an agrarian native and the lives of the technological natives around her grew too great. She couldn’t keep up anymore. She had to quit.
The gap between this 1950s technology native and the digital natives now entering the world is widening, too. It’s not yet a distance too wide to be traversed, but it is wide enough to increase my admiration and compassion for how beautifully and how long Grandma Josie adapted to change.
One day, I realized, the gap could grow so wide I’ll dig in my heels and refuse to change. Then again, maybe that won’t happen. I may not be a digital native, but I can apply for citizenship and study to become one.
A digital version of the test, of course.
Downloaded on my iPad.
Exported to my lap top.
Backed up on my external hard drive.
With an audio version on my iPod.
The gap is shrinking.
Watch out digi natives, here I come!
image courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net
by jphilo | Oct 8, 2012 | Daily Life
An article about cutting edge business buzz words in yesterday’s Des Moines Register gave me an entirely new outlook about change. The story explained why the business world prefers the word pivot to change this way:
When things didn’t go well, it used to be that you would have to change. But that word sounds so negative, doesn’t it? Instead just pivot. If you lost your job, you might say, ‘I was a teacher, but I’ve pivoted into fast-food service.
Wow! By changing one little word, people can eliminate negativity in their personal lives, too. Here are a few ideas:
- No need for man or critter to complain about the past weekend’s cold snap and hard frost. Next time the deer along the walking trail stand with hooves planted in the frosty grass, their sides shivering with cold, just say, “Looks like the weather’s pivoting into winter.” Nothing like positive buzz words to warm a body up.
- I can tell Hiram, “Let’s pivot the furniture in the living room,” or “The weather’s pivoting, so we need to lug the flowerpots from the porch all the way upstairs,” and the man of steel will want to do it, what with all the negativity taken out of the pivoting process.
- When I look in the mirror and see more grey hairs, I can say, “Why Jolene, you’re pivoting into a new look.”
- Likewise, my recently acquired status as grandparent can be considered a pivot into maturity.
- Pounds gained from overeating during the upcoming holidays will be a pivot into a new wardrobe.
This word has pivoted my attitude toward change. The other words on the biz buzzword list – crowd funding, showrooming, cloud (as in the internet), BYOD (bring your own device), data mining, freemium (use this one quickly as it’s on the way out), social and mobile (for pitching business ideas), and lean start up – not so much.
But that’s okay. Adding one new buzz word to my vocabulary is all the pivoting I can handle. Though it’s important to make the pivot quickly ’cause you know what they say. The only constant is pivoting so get used to it.
Hmmm…oes that sound right to you?
