stealing

One of the things I love about America is our public library system. How incredible is it that I don't always have to buy a book if I want to read it. I'm not a student, but there is still a library available to me, free of charge, to read books as often and as much as I want.

Recently I bought and read a book that is very popular. There are more in the series, but to check one out from the library, I would have to go on the waiting list, where I would be number 896. I googled the book to see if I could find it cheaper online (as opposed to Target's hardback only copy) and found where someone had actually posted the book online. I know those books are the authors income. To post something like that online is to essentially steal the book. But I read it anyway.

Since then, I've been pondering that whole scenario. Had I waited and checked it out at the library, that author still would not have earned one penny from me. Had I borrowed it from a friend, that author would not have earned one dime. Had I found it at the used bookstore where I occasionally go and swap books, that author would not have received even a notification. So is it really all that different for someone who has purchased the book to post it online for people to read?  I'm still debating that fact.

jumping jacks of life

In, out, up, down.  That's life. And like exercise, some days we handle it better than others.

In - 1/2 of what I planted in my garden is growing nicely.
Out- The deer discovered my peas this morning and I've yet to crank the tiller.

In - My sewing room is 90% clean and organized.
Out - I was reminded yesterday of how little time was left to complete two projects. I think I'm still okay and will be able to get everything done in time, but someone else I know is a tad concerned. :)

In - we've brought my bp back down to moderately high levels the last 2 days.
Out - If all this eating healthy hasn't resolved my bp issues, I want my chocolate chip cookies and sweet tea and Dr. Pepper back!

In - My cousin Ashley is coming home from the hospital tomorrow (MS, mid20s), my cousin Rachel was able to take her 5th chemo treatment today AND the tumor has shrunk, and situations with others are improving/stabilizing as well.
Out- everyone keeps getting sick
 
In - my Redeemer loves me
Out- when I look in the mirror of His word and see His reflection, it doesn't look anything like me at all.

So that's Monday for you. Lots of good things; lots of jumps.

September 27

It's been updated...JKRowling's web page.

Her new novel, an adult fiction, will be released on September 27 and is titled "The Casual Vacancy".  The blurb posted on the web sounds great, and I look forward to reading it!  Hooray for new books!

april

It seems like yesterday I was frantically realizing April was upon us, meaning I had a passle of kids coming to play for a morning (we host all the jr church age kids almost every spring for an Easter party). The crazy thing is that I was tired. Not sleepy, but exhausted, as in every thing I did required twice as much energy. We got through the party. And this week? My blood pressure has spiked out of control again. Today has been the best day so far, but I've still got a ways to go. I gave myself 2 weeks to attempt to corrall it again, and agreed that if I was unable to do so, then off to the doctor I'd go and would submit to taking medicine for it. (Do you know how much I both hate going to the doctor AND taking medicine of any kind?)

I thought the rest of the month would be routine things (prep for the May election, homeschool testing), but yesterday I received a phone call asking me if I was still available to work early voting. I hesitated, then said yes. It will be an on-call basis as opposed to all 9 days, which I think I like a little better, but that also means I have to do yet another training session, and it's 8 hours this Saturday. A part of me is glad. One of the things I don't like about being a coordinator is that I'm not actually doing the job and feel a little out of the loop on election day as I troubleshoot and supervise. The extra training, and hopefully a few work days, should help me feel a tad more comfortable in addressing situations on the actual election day. I believe in what we do, and I think it's important for citizens to do their part in keeping our democracy active and honest. But at the same time, there are days when I think this will be my last year as a poll worker. The job itself is not hard, but the hours are long and tedious. I can only imagine how tired of everything the families of officials running for office must be.

Meanwhile, I'm reading the Hunger Games. I like the fact that the characters are well-rounded and not quite so static as Lord of the Flies, but having read an interview with the author also makes me question a lot of what I'm reading. Knowing that many of her premises are based off of 9/11,  the Iraqi War, and reality tv, it makes me wonder if certain characters are based on President Bush. Given the fact that she's also a writer for television, I found it quite ironic how she described the people in the capitol (can we spell Hollywood?) and the rest of the nation's view of them. So far I'm finding the first and the third book to be the best, with the third also being the hardest to read.

And, I had a chance last week to have a lesson on a large quilt machine (the kind that uses a frame). I hope to go back next week and rent it to finish a quilt top.

 So after next week, if I'm silent through May, you know I've been called in to work at an early voting site  or am frantically trying to stay afloat on some projects. Life has way of doing that.

kids make me laugh

One of my many nieces was recently talking to her grandma about her family's financial situation. Evidently she's been told "No, we can't afford it" when requesting something unnecessary she wanted. According to her, because her family has 2 tvs and a laptop, which are very expensive items, her family is in need of money. When asked just how much money her family needed, she replied "I think $5,000 would be enough. Or maybe $2,000. I don't know. But we've been talking (the kids in the family), and we've decided to help out with the money problems and stop doing our chores."

Evidently they get paid to do chores. Grandpa, who did NOT pay his kids to do chores, informed her she should do the chores whether she got paid or not. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. I wonder if she got the full-blown lecture on how a family works as a team and it takes everyone pitching in and doing their part and unless you want to contribute to the medical, grocery, light, clothes and water bills then you should be content with laundry and cleaning chores for free. I kind of doubt it. Grandkids tend to short-circuit the parental brain. As one of my grown nephews likes to lament "The rules have CHANGED!"

I wonder how my dearest hubby would respond if I told him I was going to save him some money and stop buying cleaning supplies to clean the house with. He'd probably laugh and remind me that housekeeping is not one of my strong points anyway. But it was worth the fleeting thought.

my fuzzies

Huddle! Huddle! It's the big monster who moved us out of our first warm spot!

Okay, huddling's not enough. Time to pile on top of and underneath each other!

Forget this! Water break!

my fuzzies, but not warm

Fuzziness, with all its delightfulness and cuteness and excitement, isn't always warm.

Saturday, right on cue, some of our eggs began to pipe. By the time I went to bed around midnight, I had two little balls of fluff outside in the brooder box and up to 7 eggs piping (the first crack they make, shaped like an x).  When I left for choir practice Sunday morning we had 4 little wet birds in the incubator, one which had a small hernia type problem that concerned me. That afternoon my wonderful mother-in-law went to our house (I wouldn't make it back home Sunday until about 8pm) and moved them to the brooder box (their fur is supposed to dry before removing them from the first heat source). Between its thrashing around in the incubator and the other biddies pecking at its wound, it didn't survive the night. Not a fuzzy feeling.

This is the first time we've hatched such a large quantity of eggs, and I'm a bit startled at how rough and tough these chicks are. All the manuals and forums tell you how gentle to be with the eggs and how they shouldn't be handled hardly at all. But, when they're in the nest with Momma, they are heaped one on top of the other (so she can sit on all of them), and when she turns them, she either slaps them with her foot or pecks at them with her beak. Neither of those things are exactly gentle.

Even though I know all that, it was still a bit shocking to watch these chicks kick their fellow eggmates around, crawl on them, even peck at their beaks as they try to break free from their shell. And this morning, after having six more hatch during the night and join the others in the incubator, one of my tiniest darlings died. The other chicks had a habit of sitting on its head, so I don't know if there was something wrong with it or if the cute little fuzzballs are actually angry birds and just killed it. I find the last possibility very disturbing.

We have three eggs left; one of them is trying to hatch now. Once things settle down a bit (and if I don't find another face-down non-moving biddie when I go out with the camera again), I will most definitely have pics coming.