Crazy Happens Here

We had parent teacher conferences. I openly complained about how the rescorce room isn't challenging enough for my kids and how their methods continue to push my kids further behind their classmates. I will admit, my kids are way too quiet. They have some how developed a shyness which makes them terrified in front of people. Terrified to the point where they can't think, it's like a deer crossing the road at night when it looks up and sees the bright lights of an on coming car. They can't move. It takes them way too long before they get comfortable enough to start sharing and by then the school year is ready to end. 

I discovered that all three of them are weak in the exact same areas. So now, we have to have school on Saturdays. Well, not at school, at home and not all day just for an hour. I am hoping that this doesn't confuse them. Common Core uses new methods for teaching math than what we were traditionally taught. So when we try to reinforce the math lessons it's often a very different way then the school showed them and we wind up with confused kids and confused parents. So I don't know how this will turn out but welcome to it. 

Our Niece Is Back!

Her mother is going through some stuff and needs to "figure out" some things. We are more than willing to help by bringing her beautiful child into our home. I wish we had the room for a more long term arrangement, but, when our new bundle of joy arrives we won't have enough seats in our car and depending on the sex of our new born we won't have the bedroom space. We, the wife and I, are divided as to what we want to do. So when we are divided we don't do anything and we agreed to stick to these reasons publicly until we have found common ground, meaning one or both of us has changed our minds.

Lesson from church

In church we had an unusual combination for the third hour. All the teenagers joined all the adults to talk about genealogy. T didn't find it interesting at all. I however found myself intently listening. As the bishop was sharing stories from his ancestory, and finding that he was related to more than one family in the congregation, I wanted stories like that. Great, great, great grandma Betsy traveling to the west was run over by a wagon and broke her leg and still walked across the wilderness. So to help find the stories like that from both my wife's ancestors and mine, I ask that you create an account on familysearch.org. Now if you are not a member of my church try it anyway then help us link our generations with pictures and stories. If you can't creat an account that's ok, just send me you stories and I will do the rest. These family stories help to create identity and character, things I desperately want in my children. 

New TV Season is Here…

This one is less about me and more about TV. However I may still put myself in there somewhere. 

Revolution is off to a terrific start and so much had happend last season that I couldn't believe we were only starting the 2nd season. I will say this without giving away anything (hopefully). WOW! And what do the fireflies have to do with what happend to Aaron? That last frame of the opening episode really leaves you hanging. So now I have to watch the next and probably the rest of the year to get any answers. 

The Michael J Fox Show is refreshing. It's nice to see a good family sitcom without the immorality. I put this one in my must see list. 

The Headless Horsman I like it but wouldn't miss it if it were gone tomorrow. 

Agents of Sheild, this one has you rooting for a government agency that tracks and registers people with super powers. Not in love with that premise, but I enjoyed the first episode. 

Shows I am looking forward too

24 premeirs in January, I am curious to see what's in store for Jack. It's probably fairly easy to predict. Jack is off somewhere in the world or in prison. Some higher up political power needs help and they arrange his release he helps, but in doing so he incurs the wrath of either the person asking for help or some other power or both. Only to find he is on the run again kicking peoples butts and asking questions and playing the part of the reluctant hero. This time it wouldn't surprise me to see Jack Bower showing an aversion to guns and have it be like a McGyver episode. 

Revenge, I think they ended it and replaced it with a new show, same characters, but taking place after the revenge has ended and picking up with the shattered lives of everyone. Juries out still on this one.

Once upon a time. I love the plot and the twists in this one. Apparently so does Disney, there is a new show called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Sounds interesting. Woman goes down the rabbit hole and finds true love. 

Anything else that is not mentioned it's probably because I wouldn't miss it if it was removed from my life. 

The Gloomy Side of Bright…

Things are going well. I am once again salary based, at least partly. My pay will always be enough to meet our minimum needs, unless of course the economy tanks or as the book of genesis puts it, money fails. I hope the season of plenty doesn't end just yet, I am not ready. Every time I get to a place where I can start to set things aside life takes a twist. I need a few more months to put together a savings bank of food and some form of protection for my family. 
I am hoping for the best, really I am. But things do not look good in the direction we are heading and I fear it's too late to stop and turn around. I can only prepare for the possibility that money will fail and a good many people will die from starvation and those unprepared will do as the children of Israel, sell their freedom for food. 


Brighter News…
I have made use of the technology of the day to help me to be a better husband and father. To help me to live a more principled life. So the things that I am wanting to work on I made "reminders" on my phone. That way I can nag myself to be mindful of who I am and what behavior is becoming of a son of God. 
Here are a few of the reminders:

• You don't need to watch TV

• Did you pray today?

• Have you studied the scriptures today?

I would love to report that it's worked beautifully and I have done all of them, but alas as with any self improvement, it's gonna take time. 
More Gloom…
I was preparing for the lesson on Sunday when I was struck with a thought. First, the lesson covered leadership, focussing on leadership in the church. The principles also reflected those we expect of our elected for public office. Basically a leader of men should never place himself above those he is called to serve. The term is "self exaltation." That's when you as a leader start to think of yourself as better than those you govern. When a task is given, and the details laid out by the "leader," If the task is not done the way the "leader"wanted it done, then it was done wrong even if it accomplished the task. If it was accomplished better, then the so called leader tends to be jealous and still try's to attach his name to it. Sound like anyone we know? Hopefully you all came up with a few names, our form of government has power divided into three branches and there is plenty of room for this spirit of self exaltation to go around. 
The number one name that first hit me was Barack Obama, followed very closely by Jon McCain, George W Bush, Harry Reid. Both republican and democrat. They have been corrupted. They have assumed the role of a false choice. Both want the same thing but maintain opposed to one another so we, the cattle, will continue moving forward to whatever end they have in mind for us. 
I want to go on record and say I am not a cow and I resent being treated like one. 
If for some reason you find offense it this, I didn't mean any, but I don't offer any oppologies. Public discourse is one thing that helped to make this nation great. Freely exchanging ideas and arguments helps broaden our understanding and makes us better people. Being challenged requires us to look for answers. 

Just Plain Busy

I've been very busy. This entire week I have worked much later than usual. (Probably been more than a week, just ask my wife she would know for sure).  My pest control schedule changed and with it a slight reduction in pay 😢. It's a good thing we are finally on a budget of sorts. This reduction will only affect the extra money coming in and not our general budget. (Less play money for me). 

The kids brought home their first progress reports of the school year, (I know the time is flying by, isn't it?) some aren't doing well others are doing fine. S I was open and honest with them and told them that those grades SUCK, and they have no excuses this early in the school year, and if they ever want me to argue to get them out of the resource room they better be getting straight A's. (I think the resource room has made things too easy and that my kids have fallen even further behind since they were put in there). I am becoming more frustrated, and thinking this school is NOT the right fit. In the resource room the teach to the lowest common denometer, meaning if one child is really slow at picking something up they slow everyone else down and teach at the lowest level. That's a terrible idea! So, if you know a school that would have small class sizes AND actually teach, let me know, its time for a change. 

I haven't worn a watch since junior high. I stopped because I hated the watch tan line. (I know that's a very vain reason).  So, I started making a keychain out of the watch band and carrying it in my pocket with my keys. (Yes I know, very ingenious). Then cellphones hit the scene, I no longer needed the watch. My cellphone was easy to pull out and see the time. It was a wonderful time. Then cellphones evolved into little handheld computers, with a lot more function than a plain old cellphone. Now we have the advent of smart watches. These are watches that connect wirelessly to your cell phone. Each brand does different things, but the gist is this, the show who is calling and display text messages. Pretty sweet. This puts an end to always fumbling for the phone to see who is calling you and to reading text messages. Now you can be working, I mean in the thick of it. Just pinned down, and with a glance to your wrist see who's calling or what someone wants from you via text. It's a problem solver. (At least for me). So I got one, its a pebble smartwatch. It has a motion sensor so with a flick of my wrist the light comes on. A vibrating motor so if my phone is in the other room I know if I am getting a call or other alert. I think battery life is the most important issue with a watch I don't want something that needs to be charged everyday that's silly. This one has a 7 day plus battery expectation. (I get about 5 or 6 days before the low battery indicator comes on). I am anxious to see what apple comes out with next year, but if the battery is like the Samsung one, only lasting 25 hours, I don't want it. 

So as I am preparing the lesson for church next week, I was struck with a crazy idea about leadership. While the lesson deals with leadership in the church, the principles are the same for leadership in any organization including government. To read more about it look for an article on my other blog site in the coming weeks. 

That's it for today!