Thursday, July 28, 2011

Kids do the darndest things...

We took our kids out for a rare meal at A&W the other night.

They were fascinated by the juke box, and, despite hoppin' and boppin' in the booth to whatever song was playing, nothing got spilled!

The funniest part, though, was how Martin like the root beer.  Or, rather didn't.  At all. 

My kids don't get soda except as a very special treat.  We almost never have soda in the house except for grown-ups when Husband at Law needs a kick to stay up and do work.  My parents rarely have soda at their place either.  So, we figured that root beer would be a huge treat.  Robbie and Bri slurped it up.  Marty didn't.  Every time he took a little sip, he made a face.  I thought the first couple times he was just suprised by the carbonation.  But he didn't stop making the "ew, what is this face."

Finally, he took one sip, reared his head back, looked at my husband, opened his mouth really wide and said "ACK!"  It's the same reaction I have to Cod Liver Oil. 

I broke down and got him a water.  He was happy. 

I don't get it.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Seven Unairconditioned Takes


So, our home is cooled by one brave little window unit in the kids' room upstairs.  I've finding that most of that cool, dry air is sucked through the broken window downstairs.  So, here's what we can do today:

1.
Go play in the air conditioned mall playground.

2.
Play in the wading pool.

3.
Go shop in airconditioned stores.

4.
Huddle in the darkened house and watch movies.

5.
Go play in the fountain downtown. (It's one that's meant for playing in.  It doesn't have a pool, but the water jets straight up through the boardwalk.)

6.
Go play in the air-conditioned library.

7.
We won't be cooking, cleaning, or doing anything that expends energy or creates heat.  So, that should appease the global warming folks, right?  We just piggy-backing every one else's energy consumption.  ;-)

Go visit Jen for more 7 Quick Takes fun here.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Counting today's blessing

Last night was miserably hot.  Pretty much too hot to sleep.  I woke up in a bad mood.

My kids, on the other hand, woke up full of energy and high spirits.  Maybe it had to do with the fact that the air conditioner resides in their room.

Anyway, after clamoring for what we were going to do today, I growled that they should put their clothes on, so that we could go to story-time at the library.  One thing led to another, and they went from insisting they needed help putting their clothes on (they don't) to volunteering to put their clean laundry away.  And they did.  Rob and Bri took three trips up and down the stair to collect their clothes and put them away.  And then Rob said he would put Marty's clothes away.

And somehow, just having the one laundry basket taken care of turned my day around.  Well, that and a cool shower.  But mostly that. 

And so, today's blessing was willing little hands.  I count them first.

Charism

I was introduced to the idea of each religious order having their own charism in the book Black as Night.  It's kind of  a throwaway conversation in the book and doesn't have anything to do with the plot.  But the idea fascinated me.

In case the idea is new to you, too, it goes sort of like this: each religious order has its own set of virtues and talents, known as its "charism." That's why the Franciscans are different from the Jesuits are different from the Salesians.  It's why a young man with a vocation might decide that being a Domincan suits him, personally, better than being a Benedictine.

Or, if you like to look at the world through the bright colors of fantasy (like me), the charism is like each order's set of super(natural) powers. 

I love this idea.

I think the idea could be more widely applied as well.  Whenever anyone makes a generalization, there's always a modifier, "Not everyone's the same, but..." lest the maker of the generalization has an angry someone pop with an exception to their rule.  Even then, generally someone angry pops up, because lots of folks seem to like being angry.

But, I digress.  I think everyone, without exception, has a personal charism.  That is, the set of virtues and talents that makes them unique.  I think each family has a charism in the strengths and activities that they as a family excel at.  I think each couple has a charism that is firmly cemented in place by marriage.

I am going somewhere with this, I promise.

I hear many people, when confronted with a talent that not their own or a virtue that doesn't come easily, say "Oh, that's not me.  I couldn't do that.  I'm not like that."   That's a lot of negatives.  It seems to me that people would be less frustrated with their own short-comings if they said "that's not part of my charism" -- reminding themselves that they have a whole set of superpowers, just not that particular one. 

Or maybe that's just me, frustrated because I've only had one cup of coffee so far. Going without coffee is not part of my charism.