RANDOM, Random, random

From the Random Front:

Yesterday required that we turn on our heat for the first time. Were it just me, I could have held off. But, my mom, Jonge, and Famke were here also. I must tell you that I LOVE it. No clicking, clanging, banging, smelling. Just, heat! For very good reasons, I have great fear of furnaces. I do believe that this one and I shall be friends.

Today I must catch up on laundry. Only two people live here. Good grief. One could not tell that by looking at my basement floor. This happens every time all four seasons hit in one week.

I prayed a selfish prayer yesterday. That my mom would be good 'for me'. She was. Not so good for my dad, who lost her in a mall again. When she arrived at my house, she was doing very well. We had a great time together. Right up until she asked me if anyone had told ME that her grandparents had died, because no one had told her. I don't argue with her. My great grandmother was dead for years before I was born, and I have no memory of my great grandfather, although I have seen a picture of him holding me. Since they were born in the 1880's I've just sort of figured they were dead. She thought about that some and nodded in agreement. Next thing, it was my dad who had died. I gently reminded her that he was the one who brought her to my house. He must have died after that, she said. If I've learned anything at all from her experience with dementia, it's that all she has ever wanted is for the whole family to be together at one time. She has plans to call us all together to let us know that he's dead.

Once, a folding screen room divider fell on my head. It was a miserable experience, one in which I wrote of at length somewhere on this blog. Anyway...THGGM thought this same screen would work well in the basement hiding the ironing board. (from whom? i wonder. as it is only him and i, and i don't mind looking at it.) It fell on me this morning. Nothing split open and no blood spilled forth, but I was not a happy laundress.

Besides reading a Carol Ryrie Brinks jr. fiction book, I am reading John Holt's "Learning All the Time". I found these lines especially profound this morning: "...organized education operates on the assumption that children learn only when and only what and only because we teach them. This is not true. It is very close to one hundred percent false." I'm all for there being many many choices open to parents for educating their children, but, if I had to do it again I would unschool my kids. Oh, I might still send them to school, but I would not give up the reigns as the one IN CHARGE of their education.

I gave birth to a crop of comedians. I told Oldest Son that I found a great Grandma Moses' book at the thrift store. His comment was "Grandma Moses' mom wrote a book?"

I paid full price for my Susan Branch "Autumn" book. Now I see them in the bookstores for five dollars. I suggest you run right out a get one for yourself. You will be happy that you did. Trust me.

Yesterday, amid all the flurry of a birthday party, THGGM put a bill under my nose. It was a bill saying that our house payment had gone up (are you ready for this?!) FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS a month. Four hundred dollars? For city taxes. This, of course, is absurd, as we are not responsible for those taxes. And, they were PAID already by the very responsible previous owners. Anyway, THGGM made a very frantic call to our mortgage guy, who quickly assured him that there HAD to have been a mistake. It will be very interesting to find out just where this mistake was made. I know MY heart stopped beating for a few beats as the word 'foreclosure'' swam about in my brain. Can I just say? THGGM did not need this. No. Not this week.

I'll close for now with this, from today's "My Utmost for His Highest":

"Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intellectual reasoning. God's Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things begin to be possible which never were possible before. Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with Himself. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don't give in because the pain is bad just now, get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose."