Good Reads

Yes, I’m kind of stealing the title from a great website, Goodreads (where I am now tracking my books read and books to read). The multiple blizzards of January 2010 were a blessing in disguise in more ways than one. I think I read more in those snowed-in days than I did in all of 2009. Sounds impressive, but it was only four or five books. You could probably tell. My vocabulary and spelling have taken a nosedive and I believe it’s partly due to the fact that I’m not feeding my brain. Not a good thing when we’re a homeschooling family.

I’m still trying to continue the reading streak even though life has gotten back to its normal, frenetic pace.

From the storm I finished

  • Interpreter of Maladies and
  • Blonde Roots (which is an interesting take on slavery. Imagine the reverse of the triangular trade; Europeans being taken into slavery by Africans)

I am currently reading Jane Eyre in preparation for The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book. Now, though, I’ve got to read the books that just came in from the library before they’re due (11 March!):

  • Nightlight by The Harvard Lampoon — a parody of Twilight. I should probably read the actual Twilight book first.
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith — published first in 1943, it’s considered “one of the books of the century” by the New York Public Library…do they hold any weight as book critics?
  • The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath — I may have read this before in high school or college. Now with Goodreads I’ll know whether I’ve read a book before.
  • Sammy’s House by Kristin Gore — because it takes place in D.C. and I think it’s going to be funny in a my-kind-of-humor kind of way. Interestingly enough, Kristin Gore was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon back in her college days.

Simon & Schuster was kind enough to send me  The Wish Stealers by Tracy Trivas. The jacket of the book makes it sound very interesting. Look it up or click through to see about it.

Enough of the blog for now. This has taken me entirely too long to write. I spent the whole time Du was out with the girls on his Daddy Date writing it. And not reading.

Punctuated thinking

So I wasn’t on Facebook at all today. Nor on Twitter. I still think in short little blurbs though. I bet none of my thoughts were over 140 characters. Throughout the day when things happened to me I would immediately formulate my short, pithy comment about the situation. Then I’d remember that I had nowhere to put it; just had to keep it to myself. What would I have tweeted about today?

  • I would have bemoaned the socialized health care system in which I take part.
  • I would have made snotty remarks about the screaming and crying going on here. By the kids, not me.
  • I would have lamented about my hormonal headache that was being exacerbated by the lack of caffeine.
  • I would have Facebooked about the White House Easter Egg Roll whose lottery-style application opens up soon.
  • I would have mentioned the irony in having a night and morning without kids and yet having lots of non-fun things to do in those hours.
  • I would have corrected myself to say that reading a newspaper and discussing current events with nursing home patients is actually fun.
  • I would have wondered why my grocery store doesn’t carry gnocchi.
  • I would have celebrated the fact that I love real girl talk with a friend.

I wonder if at the end of Lent, will I still be thinking stunted thoughts? Is this how reporters and media editors think trying to come up with the shortest yet most creative way to write a headline?

Giving it up

I don’t remember ever practicing Lent. Growing up Baptist it wasn’t something that we “did”. Not that there is anything wrong with Lent. In fact, I like the idea of giving up something that controls a person in order to focus on her relationship with Jesus. My desire is to do that constantly, whenever I feel the Holy Spirit tugging on my conscience, letting me know something’s off kilter.

Also, I’ve seen so many people say they’re “giving up” something for Lent almost like an extended challenge from their New Year’s resolutions. A will power challenge to see if they were determined enough to get through the 40 days. Or it’s just a “religious” maneuver they either had to do because of their religion or a habit that was a hold over from childhood (when they were forced to do it). There is no actual faith behind the decision.

Allison from The Displaced Texan gives an outstanding explanation about what exactly is Lent. What does it mean? What are the implications of practicing Lent? Is it more than just a holiday to give up sugar?

After reading her post I’ve been inspired to indeed practice Lent this year. I constantly strive to seek a deeper relationship with Christ. Sometimes I’m good about it, mostly I’m woefully lacking. Taking time to seek a deeper connection to God should always be welcome to me. Why shouldn’t this specific 40 days, no matter what other people use the time for?

Allison makes a great point about the actual goal of Lent (emphasis mine):

If you choose to give up something for Lent, but in doing so you find that it does not help you in growing in your relationship with Christ, then you shouldn’t really bother. In fact, I have found that giving up chocolate or candy or something like that doesn’t really help me grow closer to God. Instead of giving something up, I usually try to do something extra like set aside time to do a Bible study each day or visit the chapel for prayer. I find this to be more productive in improving my walk with Christ! But everyone is different, so the bottom line is that you should do whatever it is that brings you closer to Him!
*this year, I plan to give up Facebook, and replace my Facebook time with prayer or Bible time instead*

God has been working on me lately about speaking and acting (and typing) in love. It would be great for me to spend extra time in His word and talking with Him to help me improve myself. I do not plan to fast from food for Lent. I do fast any time during the year if I feel God calling me to do that. I, like Allison, am going to give up Facebook and Twitter. I usually try to keep up with both while I’m schooling Reagan, while I’m out running errands or at night after crawling into bed. Whenever I feel the urge to get on either I’m going to use that moment to pray instead. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. I’m praying that this will remind me more constantly to be in prayer.

My goal also is not to indulge in social media to drunken excess today either. The tradition that has become Mardi Gras is completely debase and slaps in the face of drawing closer to Christ. It’s one more example of how current culture has taken something somewhat sacred* and made it profane.

*I would argue that the tradition of mardi gras can’t really be considered sacred or righteous. I could see how, in bygone years, it was a time when people might be thinking ahead about their fasting and either wanted to finish what rich and fatty foods they had in the house (so as not to let them go to waste) or wanted to get one last good taste before they would go without for over a month. The latter reason’s sacredness would be suspect to me as the people probably would not be focused on the beneficial sacrifice of the next 40 days. It would be more of an attitude of, “well, we’re not getting this tasty food for a month, better get it while we can!”

Digging the altruism

I helped a man unstick his car from the snow and ice yesterday. On the way back from taking my neighbor to her friend’s house for the weekend I noticed a guy, in our neighborhood, who had gotten his little car stuck in the middle of an intersection. It was blocking the way of a car who had just pulled up.

He had hopped out and was trying to use a screwdriver or an ice scraper or something to scrape snow from around the back tires. Being rear-wheel drive, the car was going nowhere because one of the back tires had sunk into a little ice pothole. I offered to steer if he and the driver of the blocked car would push. Sidenote: the blocked driver and I tried to push once, but the stuck driver didn’t stay behind the wheel long enough to see if it would work. He hopped out of the car to take me up on my offer realizing that a screwdriver or ice scraper wasn’t going to get the job done.

So I got behind the wheel and after several rocking sessions and I’m sure a couple of hemorrhoids for the guys we unstuck the car.

It felt really good to be able to help that man out. He said thanks, we each pronounced pleasantries and were on our ways. It was doing something good just for his benefit. At first I debated whether to stop. I figured two guys could get a little car like he had unstuck; what kind of help could I provide? Also, I had to get back home because the girls, Du’s mother and I were going to try to catch a bus to his work to meet him for lunch. I guess I did come to the conclusion that I could at least find a large branch to stick in front of his tire so it could gain some traction. So I did what needed to be done.

I’m not always so observant. In fact, I don’t really notice many times during the day when I can even be helpful to others. I’m praying God opens up my eyes to the little acts of service like that. I get so involved in my own little world that my “eyesight” is often turned inward  on maintaining myself, my husband and the girls. But then, would that be selfish? To want to help people out because of the satisfaction I get? I really don’t think that should be an issue.

Blessing in disguise

Snowpocolypse

Snowmageddon

SnOMG

How about SNOVERKILL

It started snowing Friday. It hasn’t snowed continually since then but it sure feels like it. The average snowfall for my area for the last snow was 26″. We’re expecting anywhere between 10″ and 20″ more. On Saturday the power was out for closer to 20 hours than 12 I’ve been told.

The roads were almost drivable again. The interstates were cleared for the most part. The neighborhood roads were one lane and many vehicles were having trouble keeping traction. We have a 4WD SUV so we got out Monday and did some errands. We visited our friend in the nursing home (she said we got 9′, it was pretty cute), we took a meal to some friends, and we stocked up the kitchen because we knew this current storm would be coming.

I drove my husband to work on Tuesday because the rest of the world just doesn’t stop and he deals with time-sensitive stuff. The DC-area Metro buses were not running. On the way to his job, driving on I395 we have a great view of D.C. and all the recognizable buildings and monuments. The white buildings covered with white snow matched the bluish-grey white sky. Everything blended together. The Air Force Memorial, a steel structure, looked white in the light and added to the monochromatic still-life picturesque quality. The few smokestacks or fireplaces that are around that area were trying their hardest to release their smoke, at this point as thick as cotton; the smoke so heavy it wasn’t even rising, like someone had glued cotton balls to the picture.

He was able to ride a bus home after work, but they had to let him off at a road outside our neighborhood because of the narrow streets and round-abouts in here. As he was walking home he passed by a Metro bus that had tried to run the gauntlet. It was being unstuck and towed by a WMATA truck.

It snowed a little last night, but when I woke up I could still make out where the streets were. Not so anymore. As sand dunes in the desert get blown around in the wind and cover over anything in their path so is the new snow that’s falling.

Right behind that big tree in the front you can barely see a car with its windshield wipers sticking out. Behind it is a car whose wheel you can still see. Between the camera and that tree is a walkway and a yard. Those two cars flank the street. There’s  also a street perpendicular to the cars on the right side of the photo. You can see the stop sign and the street light right at the corner of the intersection.

Another shot of the intersection

Our truck. Look in front of it. See that car completely covered?!

Our front door. Dangerous!

Here is our neighbor’s backyard. That is a regular-sized deck table and grill. The house is to the right of the photo.

This is our yard. Below is what it looked like after the snow a couple days ago…

I’m praying that we don’t have another power outage. I’ll be a little bit more prepared for this one if it does happen though. I stocked up on canned goods that don’t have to be heated to be eaten and I’ve got the heat jacked up to 80 degrees! All electronics are plugged in maintaining their charge. The lights flickered twice this morning but nothing since then. The snow is so heavy though, there are numerous trees down on the edge of our neighborhood. It seems only a matter of time before a power line is downed.

We are staying positive. We have a house. We may not always have heat, but we can manage to stay warm. We have food and we have each other. We have a capable truck in case we have to go somewhere. There’s really nothing to complain about. My kids get along pretty well together and they have two friends next door and they split time between both houses.

This has actually been a blessing in disguise. I’ve been desperately wanting our lives to slow down a little bit. With this much snow all extracurricular activities have been canceled. We don’t have to be somewhere every day of the week. I’ve been enjoying that. It’s helping me to realize how to reorganize and reprioritize a little once we’re dug out and life returns to normal. We will survive and this isn’t the end of the world. . . even though it’s being called Snowmageddon and the Snowpocalypse.