The Baby Times (vol. 3, iss. 1)

(Okay, really I can’t remember what vol./iss. this should be, so I’m starting fresh!)

Front Page

Headline #1: Father’s Day a huge success

Synopsis: Yesterday was a fun day.  Eric got a card from his kids in the morning.  I had printed out a free card that they “colored” for him.  He really liked it, I think.  Then we spent the day with my family since Eric’s parents weren’t home yesterday.  We actually drove down to C-ville for church (the whole family was there), put the kids in Grace’s nursery (they did great), and then spent the afternoon at my parents’ house.  My brother and dad were in a video they showed at church, which was cool to see.  And my dad seemed to enjoy his gifts and cards, as well as just getting to spend the day surrounded by his kids and grandkids.  It was really a fun day.  And my mom made a really yummy brunch for us all.  She’s awesome, too!

Headline #2: No Sleep for the Weary

Synopsis: For some reason, the babies had a very bad sleep day yesterday.  Of course, Sunday morning means no morning nap.  And we decided to hold them up until dinner after church.  Finally, they collapsed (quite happily) into their pack n plays for a nap.  But they were up again in about an hour.  Yikes!  So we left my parents in the late afternoon so they could (hopefully) nap a bit on the way home and then get to bed at a decent time.  Um…no such luck.  Neither slept on the drive home.  And even though they kept lying down after supper (on floors, couches, us), when we put them to bed, they wouldn’t go to sleep.  To tired to relax, I guess. Thankfully, they still weren’t too inclined to melt down.  And they did sleep most of the night.  But you can be very sure, we will be getting on-time naps today!

Headline #3: Saturday filled with Chores

Synopsis:  We cleaned, organized, and purged all day on Saturday.  While I was at a hair appointment, Eric started on some of the kitchen counters and then moved to the garage.  When I got home, I kept working in the kitchen and eventually moved to the laundry room (I found the top of the dryer!).  Eric also worked outside a good bit.  He’s almost done with the mulching.  And three years after we created it, he finished the flower bed on the side of the house.  It looks awesome!  While the upstairs is still in a bit of disarray (especially since some piles simply moved from kitchen to loft), the downstairs is looking fabulous.  Yay for us!

 

Arts & Leisure

Movie Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Synopsis: I was surprised how much I did not really like this movie.  It was just too weird.  The characters weren’t bad.  The premise wasn’t bad.  But the actual plot was so ridiculous and unbelievable that I stopped being able to “willingly suspend” my disbelief.  So, maybe you really just have to be in elementary school to enjoy this movie.  Or maybe it’s just not worth watching.  I wonder if the book is that bad, too…

Book Review: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Synopsis: The book has a fast-paced and interesting plot.  The characters were very good.  And there were a couple of plot twists thrown in which caught me totally by surprise.  So far, so good.  Unfortunately, the “theology” and “bibliology” of this book (if they can even be called by those names) were frighteningly problematic.  I knew to expect a lack of good exegesis from reading The Da Vinci Code, and I have never yet figured out whether these ideas are Brown’s own or just necessary to the characters.  But for all the hoopla that surrounded Da Vinci and its “effects” on people’s faith, this book (which received very little attention for those reasons) is actually much more dangerous.  The ideas about the Bible and what it supposedly teaches are seriously heretical.  Of course, as long as you are aware of that reality, and can read the book with a critical eye (and without just accepting the characters’ ideas as truth), you need not avoid the book.  It is a very good read.  And a well-told story.  But you can, if you want, just skip the last 15-20 pages of “talking” and you won’t lose anything important to the story.

 

Business Section

Headline: No Longer Playing “The Game”

Synopsis: This morning, I cancelled my subscription to The Grocery Game.  I have used the website for about three months, but it had become apparent that it wasn’t really working for me.  First of all, the stores in my area did not have the same sales/coupon specials that the site indicated would be there.  So while the database indicated I could get an item for, say, $1.25 with coupons and such, my price would never be that low (because of lack of doubling/tripling or something).  Also, my stores didn’t seem to stock well the items that were the best bargains.  So multiple times (sometimes on a single shopping trip), the shelf would be totally bare of the cereal, cake mix, or other item that was supposedly a great deal.  I never figured out whether to blame the store for not having enough or other shoppers for not leaving some for others, but this reality very much frustrated me.  Thirdly, the philosophy was to keep your coupon inserts and cut them as you went.  And this merely resulted in me having a large stack of (very old) coupon inserts on my kitchen counters.  Since I never found a good way to organize them, I just finally gave up.

So now, I’m going back to my old way of shopping.  I am going to cut out every coupon that I might use and then throw away the inserts.  I am going to go back to planning carefully what I need for the next two weeks of meals or snacks so that (hopefully) I only need to go to the grocery twice a month (or maybe a quick run for milk or something super necessary).  I am going to buy, to the best of my ability, what’s on sale and with coupons.  And if there’s a good sale, I will stock up on something.  But mostly, I never really figured out how to make the “shopping to stock up” philosophy work for my family.  I will miss having the Grocery Game site to have an idea of what’s on sale before I go.  But sadly, the site didn’t really help me recoup more than it cost to subscribe.  And that made it not really worth the cost.

 

Editorial Page

Headline: Fireworks Not Good for Community Connections

Synopsis: So our neighbors, it seems, love fireworks.  Yes, they’re illegal.  Yes, they are done (professionally) 2-3 times a year.  But neither of those things are sufficient for some of our cul-de-sac compatriots.  While I was told that a neighbor did once call out “Does anyone mind if I set these off?” to the neighborhood at large, we weren’t home that night.  Nor can one easily respond well to such a “request” for permission.  So it continues.  And while the older boys in the neighborhood (upper elementary and middle school, mostly) think it’s marvelous, the rest of us are less than amused. 

It is an annoying and frustrating reality that from Memorial Day to Labor Day (with the peak being around Fourth of July, obviously), our neighbors submit us to a barrage of bangs, whistles and booms around dusk on a regular basis.  In recent weeks, someone has been setting up shop in the middle of the cul-de-sac every 2-3 days (or so), and as the Fourth approaches, it will become even worse.  The weekend of the Fourth, they will set fireworks off every night.  

This habit is incredibly frustrating because it distresses the dogs and babies nearby.  For obvious reasons, the fireworks displays that they set off happen after our children’s bedtimes, which makes for a tense few minutes while I pray they don’t wake up scared.  When one went off unexpectedly on an evening where we had our windows open, my daughter absolutely melted down in fear.  And one that was set off while I was driving down the street sounded like a gunshot and scared me quite badly.  

Not only are fireworks distressing aurally, those who set off the fireworks are really inconsiderate of their neighbors’ properties.  They set them off in the middle of our cul-de-sac’s turnaround, though they do not live on the properties adjacent to that part of the street.  So the next morning, those of us who do own those properties awake to find our roofs, yards, sidewalks, and driveways covered in burnt paper and other fireworks remnants.  This is particularly annoying because I can’t let my babies play where such paraphernalia is, and our neighbors who are selling their house now have to deal with trash on their roof and in their yards during showings.

I am not opposed to fireworks in general.  If the “displays” were limited to those special holidays which are particularly associated with fireworks, I would have no real beef.  But the inconsideration of our neighbors seems to be getting worse and worse (especially this summer), and I have no real idea how to deal with the situation.  It is quite annoying, and I wish people would be a little more concerned about how their “fun” affects those around them in less than fun ways. 

 

And that is the newest edition of our “online paper” – Happy Monday!