Just a Quick Update
Oh dear! Where to start? Alot has happened since the last post.
Health
The biggest surprise: I started working out (actually taking two PE classes, more on that to come); my neck and shoulder instantly improved! I’m not completely back to how I was before I started blogging, but this is a big deal.
Feel free to comment on exercise. What keeps you from it? I honestly didn’t realize that I needed to be working my back and neck specifically. How about health care? Personally, I’d love to see docs be able to prescribe a gym, rather than just massage and physical therapy.
I haven’t figured out all the pieces yet, but I hope to never go back to where I was two months ago. 
School
Somewhere recently I heard that if a student has a parent in school, that student may be eligible for more financial aid. While that may be true in some cases, I have it on reliable authority - the Whitworth University financial aid department - that a parent in school doesn’t count on the child’s fafsa.
But, before I heard that, I thought, “why not look into finishing my degree?”
Long story short, I am currently taking twelve credits, including the aforementioned two PE classes, English 102 (did you feel that groan?), and logic. And for the record, I am taking logic because I needed a humanities class, not to get out of taking math (I already have more than enough math). Writing for English, though, is keeping me from getting back to blogging.
Just for fun: my first paper - a rhetorical analysis of a Jimmy Choo magazine ad. (It earned me a 98.)
Adventures
During my absence, I have done two - I don’t really know what to call them collectively - video projects? Anyway, the first was a commercial in which I played a doctor (and the patient was actually played by the hero! lol) and the second was a training video in which I played a nurse manager, and actually had lines. See why this falls under the category adventure? It’s not all that exciting or glamorous, but if you happen to be in an area or occupation where you see one of those and think it looks like me …
My other notable adventure was being asked to present a workshop on making the most of your wardrobe at a ladies retreat with gratitude as its theme. My 45 minute talk was entitled A Closet Full of Enough. That was fun, and I am planning on saving my material, should the opportunity arise to give the talk again.
Painting
Yes, I’m still painting. Some days I take my stuff with me to school and just find a table somewhere to paint when I have a couple hours between classes. I love watercolor! It’s so clean.
Currently I am only doing portraits.
Future
Who knows? Definitely not blogging with the same regularity as in the past. But I still like it!
What’s new with you?
Related Posts:
The Connection Between TV and Debt
Republished from Mercola.com.
Dr. Schor from Harvard University wrote the book The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need
which provides some marvelous insights on television watching. She conducted a large-scale study of American spending and saving habits and correlated the results with other lifestyle factors.
She concluded that for every hour of television a person watches per week, the average American spends $200. Sitting in front of the television five extra hours a week (two sitcoms a night) raises your yearly spending by about $1000.
Indebtedness as an outgrowth of TV watching arises not so much from viewers repeated exposure to advertising, but from their attempts to emulate the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by fictional characters in soap operas and prime-time television dramas. The more television people watch the more they tend to believe that ordinary citizens have servants, limousines, and huge houses.
TV will show 24 year old waitresses with expansive lofts and exotic sports cars, not ratty one-room apartments and battered Geo Metros. In addition, folks who watch a lot of TV are more willing to go into debt in pursuit of what they believe is an accurate depiction of normal life. Consumers rack up heavy credit-card debt chasing the televised fantasy or in academic jargon “engage in competitive consumption for the purpose of image management.”
Contrary to popular conceptions, Dr. Schor found a positive correlation with higher education and indebtedness. The further people have climbed up the educations ladder, the less likely the are to save money.
The heaviest shoppers are women with graduate degrees, which may be attributed to their heightened awareness of the trappings of social status.
Those most likely to live within their means and save money are the millionaires next door, folks with less formal education who have worked hard building their own businesses. Not surprisingly, the more successful people are with their own businesses the less time they have for watching TV.
Kids are by far the most voracious viewers, A report in a recent JAMA claims that children in the US watch 15,000 to 18,000 hours of television between he ages of 2 and 17 as compared to 12,000 hours of school.
Many medical studies have correlated excessive TV viewing with childhood obesity and adult depression. Certain crime statistics also correlate well with the market penetration of television, larceny and burglary both increased as a corresponding rate following TV’s rise in popularity in the 1950s.
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5 Simple Ways to Increase Your Children’s Intelligence
These days, there’s alot of talk about being “intentional”. Well, when we went TV-free, it was almost completely unintentional, as many of the most profitable things we’ve done have been.
Adapted from Pick Your Brain, Feb 15th, 2007 (courtesy of Mercola.com)
Your brain needs exercise just like a muscle. If you use it often and in the right ways, you will become a more skilled thinker and increase your ability to focus. But if you never use your brain, or abuse it with harmful chemicals, your ability to think and learn will deteriorate.
Here are 5 simple ways anyone can squeeze a bit more productivity out of the old gray matter.
1. Minimize Television Watching – This is a hard sell. People love vegetating in front of the television, myself included more often than I’d like. The problem is watching television doesn’t use your mental capacity OR allow it to recharge. It’s like having the energy sapped out of a muscle without the health benefits of exercise.
Don’t you feel drained after a couple hours of TV? Your eyes are sore and tired from being focused on the light box for so long. You don’t even have the energy to read a book.
When you feel like relaxing, try reading a book instead. If you’re too tired, listen to some music. When you’re with your friends or family, leave the tube off and have a conversation. All of these things use your mind more than television and allow you to relax.
2. Exercise – I used to think that I’d learn more by not exercising and using the time to read a book instead. But I realized that time spent exercising always leads to greater learning because it improves productivity during the time afterwards. Using your body clears your head and creates a wave of energy. Afterwards, you feel invigorated and can concentrate more easily.
3. Read Challenging Books – Many people like to read popular suspense fiction, but generally these books aren’t mentally stimulating. If you want to improve your thinking and writing ability you should read books that make you focus. Reading a classic novel can change your view of the world and will make you think in more precise, elegant English. Don’t be afraid to look up a word if you don’t know it, and don’t be afraid of dense passages. Take your time, re-read when necessary, and you’ll soon grow accustomed to the author’s style.
Once you get used to reading challenging books, I think you’ll find that you aren’t tempted to go back to page-turners. The challenge of learning new ideas is far more exciting than any tacky suspense-thriller.
4. Early to Bed, Early to Rise – Nothing makes it harder to concentrate than sleep deprivation. You’ll be most rejuvenated if you go to bed early and don’t sleep more than 8 hours. If you stay up late and compensate by sleeping late, you’ll wake up lethargic and have trouble focusing. In my experience the early morning hours are the most tranquil and productive. Waking up early gives you more productive hours and maximizes your mental acuity all day.
If you have the opportunity, take 10-20 minute naps when you are hit with a wave of drowsiness. Anything longer will make you lethargic, but a short nap will refresh you.
5. Take Time to Reflect – Often our lives get so hectic that we become overwhelmed without even realizing it. It becomes difficult to concentrate because nagging thoughts keep interrupting. Spending some time alone in reflection gives you a chance organize your thoughts and prioritize your responsibilities. Afterwards, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s important and what isn’t. The unimportant stuff won’t bother you anymore and your mind will feel less encumbered.
Recently, I’ve been hearing that spending alot of time on the internet is bad for children’s intelligence. Any thoughts on taming the Facebook Monster?
Related Posts:
The Threatened Rant on Age Segregation
(If the Apostle Paul can use sarcasm, and I believe he does, I’ll give it a go myself.)
Of course, it goes without saying that program offerings, especially within the church, should be limited to people of similar age and stage of life and/or family status. After all:
- when God brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, He arranged their camp around the tabernacle demographically: teens in one section, with the college-age people right by them, families with young children in another area, and so on.
- a couple of times, I have lamented to someone close to my age that we were no longer eligible for all the fun stuff the youngers get to do, but not old enough for the 50 and up group. The answer? We need our own youth group! Because, of course, God sets the lonely in youth groups.
- finally, scripture is replete with exhortation to share what we have learned with our peers. Right? (It’s a bit of a joke around our household that the majority of the Titus 2 blogs are written by twenty-somethings. Correct me if I’m wrong.)
(end sarcasm.)
Now, allow me to say that I am newly convinced, with some reservations, that larger churches may need to conform to the public school model for Sunday School. And I realize there are probably two camps on this issue: one, those whose extended family members share both their beliefs AND their zip code, and the other, those who find themselves needing to form their own community.
But what is the reasoning behind all the segregation in programming? And how have you gone against the flow to create a more natural community in your own life?
Related Posts:
More Paintings
In other art - life news, today was my first session of beginning drawing at the senior center. In case I haven’t already told you - I’m so excited! - they don’t check your age at the senior center. The people couldn’t be nicer!
Is this a good time for me to go off on a rant about allowing ourselves to be chunked up into our peer groups to the degree that we either fear or disdain anyone more than a year or two different from us in age? Just wondering. More on that topic to come, no doubt.
Related Posts:
Gossip
Gossip is to intimate communication as Oreos are to a bowl of freshly-picked, ripe, seasonal fruit (with cream?).
- way easier
- less costly
- doesn’t benefit anything or anybody
- provides the illusion of the benefit
No wonder it’s so hard to give it up.
Related Posts:
Summer Social Survival
Here we are at the end of the ‘everything year’: the school year is nearly over, which coincides with the ministry year and most regularly scheduled activities. In a return to what has been an often-repeated topic here, I pose a series of questions:
- How do you meet your need for regeneration? (Social interaction, sleep, time alone, a new goal, or perhaps creative activity or outdoor recreation?)
- How much social interaction do you need?
- How do you manage to get your social needs met in the summer when everything is on break?
Although this has nothing to do with social, it does have to do with summer: I am very excited to begin Professor Horner’s Bible-Reading Program, which I learned about from a MOPS friend who had Professor Horner for English, I believe, at The Master’s College. From the facebook group page:
* PROFESSOR GRANT HORNER’S ‘TEN LISTS BIBLE READING SYSTEM’*
Each day you will read one chapter from each list, in order. THAT’S RIGHT — *TEN CHAPTERS PER DAY*!!! Use ten bookmarks or sticky notes with the individual lists on them to keep track of your locations. (LOOK BELOW at the Wall for several posts on Feb 1 2009 and you will find links to handy bookmarks made by users.) On day one, you read Matthew 1, Genesis 1, Romans 1, and so forth. On day 2, read Matthew 2, Genesis 2, etc. On day 29, you will have just finished Matthew, so go to Mark 1 on the Gospel list; you’ll also be almost to the end of 2nd Corinthians and Proverbs, you’ll be reading Psalm 29 and Genesis 29, and so forth. When you reach the last chapter of the last book in a list – start over again. Rotate all the way through all the Scriptures constantly. Since the lists vary in length, the readings begin interweaving in constantly changing ways. You will NEVER read the same set of ten chapters together again! Every year you’ll read through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the OT wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History and prophetic books about 1 ½ times. Since the interweaving is constantly changing, you will experience the Bible commenting *on itself* in constantly changing ways — the Reformer’s principle of ’scriptura interpretans scripturam’ — ’scripture interpreting scripture’ IN ACTION!
After you’ve read any particular book once or twice, your speed in that book usually *doubles or triples* because you’re familiar with it and can move quickly and confidently — because you are no longer merely decoding the text but thinking it through in the context of all of the scripture! Acts 20:27. Even an ‘average’ reader, if focusing on moving through the text, rather than trying to figure everything out, can usually do this in about an hour a day – 5-6 minutes per chapter. If it is taking you longer, then you are ‘reading wrong’ – stay relaxed, focus, and just keep it moving. Moderate but consistent speed is the key. This is “gross anatomy” — looking at the whole body; you’re *not* closely studying organs or systems or tissues or cells — it is *not* microbiology. BUT
– microbiology and the study or organs makes more sense when you know what the *whole* structure of the human body is like, and how all the parts, large and small, relate in perfect interdependence. After just a few days the reading gets *much* easier; in a month it will be a habit, and in six months you’ll wonder how you ever survived before on such a slim diet of the WORD. And then — you’ll tell others to start the system!
Whether or not you believe the Bible is God’s Word, you are not fully educated unless you have read it for yourself. I invite you to join me in reading the Bible through this summer.
Now, back to summer social survival. I’ll let you in on a well-kept secret: they don’t check ages for taking senior classes. All this time, I’ve been waiting to turn 50 or whatever, so I could take affordable, day-time classes. This year, I believe I’ll try taking an art class.
And hopefully I’ll be back to blogging a little more consistently as well.
Related Posts:
What Moms Really Want for Mother’s Day
Shoes, of course! - just kidding.
What Mom really wants probably relates to two things:
- Her love language.
- What, if anything, is out of balance according to the basic needs of her temperament.
For example, very often mothers of young children need more time alone. Or the homemaker who is tired of the tyranny of the kitchen may want to have a meal prepared for her. Or the woman with an absurdly tiny wardrobe budget may really appreciate that pair of shoes.
So what do you really want for Mother’s Day? And who do you want it from? I confess, with my children, I’m delighted to receive ANYTHING which demonstrates they thought of me in the tinyest way. It’s still my hero I really want to feel appreciates me.
Related Posts:
Mother and Grandmother of the Bride
Finally I got around to posting a picture of my outfit. I even found one that shows the shoes.
BTW, most of the grandmothers of the bride wore pants. I realize that isn’t the globally correct term for that article of clothing, but I just can’t bring myself to call them trousers unless they are of a certain quality of both fabric and fabrication (that is, construction). Although, I would never have considered wearing “trousers” to a spring wedding, it didn’t seem out of place. We are, after all, in The Great Northwest. 
So, do you think we look alike? If so, what is your reason, coloring or something else?
Related Posts:
What’s Peace of Mind Worth?
I am re-running this post today, because
- I’m beyond ready to get back into the swing of blogging, but not to tackle writing an entirely new post.
- Sadly, when I dropped by the most awesome eyewear shop to get my glasses adjusted, I discovered they are gone. A victim of the economy, supposedly. Yet, in the back of my little know-it-all mind, I wonder if there’s a connection with the fact that they had no online presence. Nor interest in obtaining one. Had they taken me up on my offer to blog them, at least when someone googled, “________, Spokane” something positive would have come up.
- On a happier note, the first retailer I mentioned in this post has sold their shop to someone who is planning on offering even more classes, etc.
I’ll be back next week.
Freshly off my hunt for the new (reading/computer) glasses, I had lunch with a friend, a small retail shop operator. If her shop didn’t exist, people would have no one local to help them understand what to buy or to teach them skills in this particular arena.
Similarly, there is no eyewear shop locally that surpasses the one I ordered through in both stylish selection and the knowledge necessary to fit a pair of glasses on a person’s face and into their lifestyle.
When I found the frames I wanted, I made my buying decision without asking the price. Price wasn’t the point. I had received help that is almost unheard of these days, with a level of expertise that has virtually disappeared. What is the peace of mind of being done shopping and the confidence that my choice supports my goals worth to me?
I suppose I may be stepping on some well-manicured toes when I say that it would not only be unethical but absolutely foolish of me to have written down the style number of those frames and gone home and bought them online more cheaply. If our local retailers provide a service, we should be compensating them for that service. If we don’t, we may come to find that service unavailable at any price. Or we will be forced to replace their service with highly paid consultants.
Thinking about what I value enough to pay for above the lowest possible price reminds me of the idea, from the 1993 book The Overworked American by Juliet Schor,
So my question to you is this: for you, what values trump frugality?
