These may be timewasters or educators; you decide.

The Eyeballing Game. I did spend some time trying to get these right, but my accuracy remained abysmal. How did you do?

Lunch Bag Art I want to show this blog to Engineer Husband. He’s really a talented artist, and I wish he’d make some of these. Or do a mural on my wall. Or something artistic. Don’t you think that art, for those who are somewhat talented, is both therapeutic and a way of praising God? Why couldn’t one praise the Lord on a lunch bag? Or a wall?

The Cheerios New Author Contest encourages aspiring authors to write and submit an original story for a book for children ages 3 to 8. You have to be over 18 to enter, and the deadline is July 15, 2009. I tell my children Maria stories, and I may send one in.

From The Common Room: Could you pass this test? This exam is one that a late nineteenth century teacher had to pass in order to keep his teaching certification. Even in the literature section, what I would think was my forte, I couldn’t answer half the questions. The rest was hopeless.

Most Interesting Bookstores of the World. Eldest Daughter used to hang out at Shakespeare and Company when she was in Paris. She found it fascinating in a 60’s, hippie sort of way.

Pun for the Ages: “Dryden called it the ‘lowest and most groveling kind of wit.’ To Ambrose Bierce it was a ‘form of wit to which wise men stoop and fools aspire.'” If you like puns, you might enjoy this NY TImes article on the uses and abuses of the lowly pun.

Children’s reading skill correlates with orderliness in the home? Whoaaaa, this is NOT good. However, I’ve managed to produce four adult readers so far with a minimal amount of order in the home, so maybe the study cited is flawed. Or else we’re the exception.

1
So, does this mean that you all are likely to pay careful attention to my blog posts, but you won’t get many creative ideas from stopping by? But if you’re reading from China or South Africa, all bets are off?

2
There are so many things going on in our nation that make me upset and concerned, and I’m feeling helpless. I can’t stop the stimulus boondoggle, even though I’m going to have to pay for it. I can’t save the books. However I am going to do this simple thing, to try to change minds about abortion. It may not have any effect, but it’s something. And I’m feeling a need to do something about all this madness.

3
Speaking of abortion, Screwtape Writes Again. And he does have an interesting, dare I say diabolical, perspective on the matter.

4
Over at Mugglenet, in cooperation with Random House, they’re sponsoring an essay writing contest. Write 500 to 1,000 words on the topic, ” “How can magical stories help young people grow spiritually or build character?” Author N.D. Wilson and a couple of other people will judge the submissions, and the prizes for the top three essays are copies of Dandelion Fire and 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson.

5
March 2 is Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Read here for ideas on how to celebrate in your own homeschool.

6
Back to CPSIA, even people in other countries are noticing the stupidity and harmfulness of this law: Warning! Eating books could seriously damage your health from Daniel Kalder at the Guardian Books Blog. Maybe some of our politicians who are so enamored of European ideas and mores will pay attention to a Brit making fun of such “legal lunacy.”

7
Lunacy is not confined to government. The New York Times on Tuesday February 17th printed an unsigned editorial that totally misrepresented and confused the issues with CPSIA, talking about “needless fears” and “enlightened leadership.” Walter Olson of Overlawyered calls the NYT editorial “clueless” and “cruelly hard-hearted toward families and businesses.” Back at ya, Grey Lady.

1
Here’s an article in WSJ by Allen Barra about G.K. Chesterton and The Man Who Was Thursday. I found the WSJ article via Neil Gaiman’s blog, which I was browsing because this is the year I’m going to “discover” Neil Gaiman. I’ve been planning to do so for several years now, but haven’t managed to actually read a single book by the much-acclaimed author. I have read The Man Who Was Thursday and named it one of my twelve favorites from last year’s reading.

2
I Wish I could Read LIke a GIrl by Michelle Slatalla. Mental Multivitamin sent me to this nostalgic look at the “the childhood gift of being able to suspend disbelief.” I think I can still do it, but it is easier for the younger set.

3
Another reason to let (make) your children play outside. My children don’t spend nearly as much time outdoors as I did when I was a kid of a girl growing up in West Texas. And I didn’t much care for playing outside; I only wanted to sit around and read. But my mom sent me outdoors and said for me to stay there “until I tell you to come in for supper,” or some such deadline. Sometimes she let me take my book with me, and I climbed the mulberry tree outside my window, perched on a branch and read. At least I was outside.

4
It shouldn’t be a surprise considering Mr. Obama’s strong pro-abortion statements and actions in the past, but I am nevertheless appalled that this man has been nominated for the post of U.S. Associate Attorney General. As columnist Jeffery Kuhner says, “If ‘Piranha Perrelli’ (as he is known in pro-life circles) can’t protect a defenseless, incapacitated woman from a ruthless, amoral husband – in fact, goes out of his way to help finish her off – then he certainly cannot oversee the enforcement of America’s laws.”

5
Octamom: Is Eight Enough? “It’s all about trust. It’s all about listening. I don’t know how many children people should have. I do know we should pray a whole lot more about it. I don’t think that big families are somehow more ‘spiritual’. I do know that the process of family building is holy ground, whether by biological or adoptive or foster or mentoring means.”
Isn’t that wonderful? I don’t know how many children any family should have. But God does. And He will lead if we let HIm.

6
Gene Veith asks: What works should be in our collection of the Christian Great Books?
He’s already got 50+ comments with lots of suggestions, but have a look both to get suggestions for your own reading and to give suggestions for others.

7
Finally, I got this quote from Julie at Happy Catholic:

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Thurman

Go here to read her further thoughts on the idea of service and calling and vocation.

Happy Friday, everyone! More Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.

Melissa WIley: Fresh Starts and Her Rule of Six. A good beginning to the new year.

Randy Alcorn on Joel Stein, Starbucks, and Heaven. I’m going to be reading Mr. Alcorn’s book Heaven in January, and I’ll let you know what I think. For now, I think his response to Mr. Stein was gracious and Christ-like.

Joe McKeever: My Dad Keeps Sending Me These Notes. Mr. McKeever gave me an idea, and I’m taking notes in my Bible and planning to give it to one of the urchins someday.

Mental Multivitamin: In a ragged pocket . . . Ms. Multivitamin has such a gift for appreciating the finer things in life, like poetry.

S.M. Hutchens at Mere Comments: Not Your Father’s Christianity—Or Anybody Else’s. Hutchens posits that “loss of faith” has more to do with license to sin than with intellectual doubts. I rather think he’s right.

Alan Noble on Aslan, the Grandfatherly God at Christ and Pop Culture. Have the Narnia movies removed all the “danger” from Lewis’s picture of God?

Ken Brown on Selfishness and Sacrifice in LOST.

Nine kids, 12 years and 30,000 diapers later and all I am sure of is how much I don’t know about parenting at Urban Servant. Humility is something we could all use a good dose of.

Examining the unborn at Bookworm Room. A thoughtful examination of abortion ethics from a Jewish perspective.

Jennifer at Conversion Diary on How I Became Pro-Life. Self-explanatory title, but it’s thoughtful and engaging as I’ve come to expect from this formerly atheist blogger.

The Headmistress, in a post from 2005 on Being Poor and welcoming a child. I linked in 2008 because it’s a good story for any year.

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights? by Orson Scott Card. Not a blog post, but a newspaper column by the noted author of novels and science fiction who is a Democrat, by the way, this scathing indictment of the irresponsibility and the duplicity of the press and of the Democrat party in regards to the financial crisis is a must-read, even though they got away with it.

Sinners Need Silence, and Ultimately, a Saviour. Thoughts on chapter 2, Method, of Christianity For Modern Pagans by Peter Kreeft, a commentary on Pascal’s Pensees. Kreeft quotes Kierkegaard: “Therefore, create silence.”
The purpose of the silence is to make a space for the truth to be heard and experienced.

Why Read? I give four reasons that Christians especially should be readers.

What To Read? Some suggestions on choosing reading material.

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. My thoughts on my favorite author of the year.

Semicolon Author Celebration: Charlotte Zolotow. On June 26, we celebrated Charlotte Zolotow’s birthday with a list of favorites and links to your posts.

Semicolon Author Celebration: Tasha Tudor. Ms. Tudor died earlier this year at the age of 91. On her birthday in August, I celebrated her life and work as did others.

100 Pumpkins. A celebration of pumpkins and all things pumpkin-ish.

To Vote or Not to Vote? I believe in voting, prayerfully, and leaving the results to God.

War and Reconstruction: Establishing Democracy in Italy and Iraq. In which I discuss two books, A Bell for Adano by John Hersey and Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers, and the efficacy of reconstruction efforts in Italy after WW II and in Iraq now.

Interview with Author Andrea White. My only author interview this year: you should read her books, especially Window Boy.

Humor in the Bookstore. Snarky review of the latest sales flyer from LargeWeight Christian Bookstore.

12 Projects for 2009. I am planning to keep referring back and linking back to this one since I want to complete and enjoy all of these projects.

Church:
Julie Neidlinger on Why I Walked Out of Church, and George Grant on Why We’re Losing the Julies of this World.

What she longs for, she says, is her “home town church” filled with “ordinary, uncool people” who actually “know each other.” In other words, she longs for “parish life.”

Sherry here: How do we get back to that “old-time religion” where people related to people instead of to programs?

Community:

Trey Garrison in the Dallas Morning News on Why I Don’t Want Diversity in My Neighborhood. I got the link for this article from Amy’s Humble Musings, and it’s a good argument for homeschoolers who get hit with the “diversity” complaint, too. Mr. Garrison says:

Seriously, if the only exposure to other people your kid gets is when she’s sitting in a place where you move about like cattle at the sound of a bell and have to ask permission to go to the bathroom (i.e. school), what kind of sheltered life are you giving your kid?

Family:

Dorothy at Urban Servant (got this link from Amy, too) says: “Nine kids, 12 years and 30,000 diapers later and all I am sure of is how much I don’t know about parenting.”

Oh, how true, and oh, how I needed to hear this message both to keep me from advice-giving and to remind me that Engineer Husband and I are the only ones who are truly experts on our eight children, and we don’t know much.

Sallie on Why Sarah Palin Makes Sense to Me: “It is easy for me to accept this situation and believe she could do a good job as both a mom and veep/president because of my marriage.
If I were handed an extraordinary opportunity, David would be right there supporting me. I have no doubt that if God called me to do something, David would adjust his life accordingly so as to make it possible. (I also know because I asked him yesterday.) It wouldn’t even have to be something as extraordinary as running for Vice President. But if it were something that would require sacrifice and his taking over more of the home, he would do it in a heartbeat.”

I, too, have such a husband, and I am oh so thankful for him.

The Media
Mark Steyn: “I would like to thank the US media for doing such a grand job this last week of lowering expectations by portraying Governor Palin – whoops, I mean Hick-Burg Mayor Palin – as a hillbilly know-nothing permapregnant ditz, half of whose 27 kids are the spawn of a stump-toothed uncle who hasn’t worked since he was an extra in Deliverance.

How’s that narrative holding up, geniuses?”

Barbara Nicolosi really, really didn’t like what the filmmakers have done with the new movie version of Brideshead Revisited.

Imagine if someone did a new adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird and it ended up savagely racist? That’s what they’ve done here. A profoundly Catholic novel, in this “adaptation”, Brideshead Revisited is viciously anti-Catholic. They turned a movie about God and the soul, into a lurid love triangle between a homosexual, his sister and a hapless hunk. It’s lame. It’s bad.

I’m watching the 1981 mini-series version, and I think it’s quite good. This admittedly slow-moving film version of Evelyn Waugh’s novel has helped me to understand things about the characters in particular that I just didn’t get when I read the book. Here are my thoughts on the novel from about two years ago.

Semicolon’s September: Celebrations, Links and Birthdays