My dh is just like this. Have you ever investigated "delayed sleep cycle syndrome"?

That's what I was going to say. It can be very secure if you set your preferences as such. You can also set levels of security by having a sub-list and setting individual preferences for that list. For example, I have a list called "acquaintences", who are people who wanted to friend me, and I know, but I dont' want them having all my info.

Well, I called the nursing home to tell them I'll be there next week, and they asked for a major family conference set up with everyone from the hospital administrator on down. So obviously, they think there are serious issues here, I"m sure they'll have a lot more detail for me. I'll also meet with the lawyer (he is an elderly law specialist) and try to get to talk to her primary care physician, who was apparently unaware that she had been readmitted. I'm going to be all on my own out there (dh is staying here with the kids), so I'll need prayers as I drive to Arizona after church on Sunday, and then I'll be there through Thursday. At least I kind of like driving across the dessert... and four days with no children will be just like a mini spa vacation, right??

I just started facebook in November because I ran into a colleague who couldn't believe I wasn't on board! Since I'm a pastor at a small church, I see colleagues infrequently--we all work at separate sites. After signing on, I realized that I was indeed missing out on cool events and personal info. Not so much from my very best friends, but from the occasional friends or close acquaintances that I might not talk to more than a couple of times a year--and miss the fact that thier husband had cancer, or thier daughter got married. I had been pretty resistent, I still won't do MySpace because I don't like the public nature of it, but I've come to rely on Facebook to keep me in the loop. Yeah, it was my fault I was out of the loop, I could have just called everyone all the time... but I don't have time or energy to do that, you know? If we all lived in a small village I would run into the other women at the well every day and get all the latest gossip. But I live in a huge city and rarely see anyone I know outside of an arranged gathering. Facebook is my ancient-near-eastern water well.

Bump! Don't forget to get your book titles in for the week!

This was buried in another thread, and I want to share with other Wodehouseians.... I so want this clock for my birthday! Play the messages, they are great. http://www.voco.uk.com/

I think it depends on the closeness of the relationship. I call and talk to close friend, and arrange to see them... but I also facebook chat with them, and that's how I know a lot of what is going on. I have around 150 friend on facebook, and they really all are people I know--a few hangers on, but mostly friends, colleagues and church folks. I wouldn't call that many people to tell them my news, but I might post it for them to read... and then call and chat with good friends (or, frankly, more often, email) if they haven't called me yet. I'd love to get together with every good friend once a week, but that just isn't going to happen. Even my very best friends live over an hour away, and we may only see them 2 or 3 times a month. So I understand when others rely on techno tools to keep me up to date.

http://www.voco.uk.com/

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let him sleep. Personally, I can't imagine getting up at 6 am, and I'm the "early riser" in the house. If he's getting his work done, etc, I think one of the great things about homeschooling is that we can all follow our natural body clocks. Teenagers naturally stay up later and sleep later, and some people are just built that way. I can't make my dh be mentally functional before 9am, and his mom is the same way. Routines may be good, but if they don't serve everyone's needs then what is the value of routine? I guess I'd compromise and say 8am is reasonable--many people don't start work until 9am, even if they work full time. I'd use the extra time to do more focused work with the early risers.

First of all, my grandmother has always been, well, difficult. She is grumpy, complaining, and mostly unpleasant, and it isn't age. She's always been that way. But my mom is an only child, I'm her only grandchild, and we love her, even if she's hard to live with. Here's the situation: She's 92, and in relatively good health--though macular degeneration has left her nearly blind. She is married, her husband is 96 and they live alone in Arizona. (I'm in California, my mom is in Virginia.) Grandma and husband been married 20 year or so, both were widowed. He's a grumpy old cuss, and we have had intimations over the years that he drinks to excess. They both are also cheap. Yes, they lived through the Great Depression, and you'd know it. Everything is bought at rummage sales, food off the day-old rack, etc. They do have money (at least a few hundred thousand in savings, each), but will skip filling prescriptions because "$20 is too high of a copay". The situation: She's fallen three times since August, and broken several bones. Each time her husband has been present, at least one time he "dropped" her on the cement in the garage as she got out of the car. She is currently in a nursing home. She was released home a month or so ago, and when the home health nurse came the next day she decided my grandmother was being neglected and readmitted her. She has always been thin, and now has been diagnosed with anorexia, is dehydrated, and he was just leaving her alone in bed with no care. It's hard to talk to (or blame) her husband, because he's fairly out of it at this point. But he keeps appearing at the nursing home and trying to remove her against doctor's orders. He says it is too expensive for her to be there, and he wants her home. She now says if she goes home he'll kill her. He has started calling her regularly and freaking her out by saying things like "the house is on fire" when it isn't, or "it's costing you $3000 a day to be here, plus meals, and you are broke", when it's been paid already, meals are included, and she has enough in savings to pay for several years of care at least. He may be trying to be mean, he may just have a certain level of dementia of his own--since he's 96. Ugh ugh ugh. To make a long story short, we now have a lawyer and are trying to get conservatorship of her, as well as keep her husband away. However, he has no family himself (no children, not in touch with any siblings) and he probably needs a conservator as well. My mom is just overwhelmed with the thought of moving two 90 year olds out to her place--she's a few years away from retirement herself, and has a high-powered full time job. So I'm going out to Arizona on my own next week to try to come up with a plan. I really don't need anything, but just wanted to vent and sigh. Did I mention we have a bunch of houseguests coming next month?

1. Are your ear lobes free or fused? Free 2. Do you have dimples or not? Not 3. Do you have a crease in your chin or not? Not 4. Can you fold the tip of your tongue backward? Yes 5. Can you roll your tongue from the sides into a roll? Yes

This is one of my favorite books, so I thought I'd post my Amazon review. Maybe it'll help you through it, or perhaps convince you to throw it across the room! He is a professor of semiotics, and I think that informs all his writing to a certain extent. Plus he's Italian. _______________________________ I first read Foucoult's Pendulum back in college when it was first published. It was recommended by my boyfriend, and I spent half of Spring Break plowing through it. Hard work. One of the few books that absolutely necessitates having a dictionary at hand to really absorb it, and it better be the OED because Webster's doesn't have all the words. Seriously. And in the end, I was floored, absorbed, and used the remaining days of vacation to read it again. I had found a new "Favorite Book Ever!" I guess I understand why so many are so full of vitriolic loathing when they discuss "Foucault's Pendulum". It isn't really a thriller, nor a consipiracy theory text, nor a philosophical treatise, nor an easy read. If you really want some brain candy (and I certainly do a lot of the time--PG Wodehouse forever!) this is not the book to pick up. It was, however, probably the first work of fiction I had ever read that made me think about the nature of reality... what is real, what is knowledge, how do we know and who decides. I loved the historical mind games, the twisted conspiracy plots, the flights of fanciful speculation. I found the language dense, yes, but dense like the best kind of rich, dark, brownies--intense and flavorful. For me the climax of the novel had nothing to do with the plot, it was the moment when I went "ah-ha!" and actually "Got It!" An intellectual pleasure in the extreme, but a genuine joy nonetheless. Twelve years later I own three copies of this book (my tattered original paperback, a hardcover I've read once because I felt this was a book I wanted to own in hardcover, and another paperback for lending out). I've read "Foucault" three additional times... it would be more, but, as I said, it's a tough read and you have to be in the right mood. Every time I've experienced again that first wonderful "Ah-ha!" moment, though perhaps a little less intense since I know it is coming. The boyfriend who recommended it is now my husband. And hundreds of books later, it's still my favorite book.

Today it's time to start book #4. You can post here, and post a review if you want at the 52 books blog. http://read52booksin52weeks.blogspot.com/ ___________________ Feel free to join in at any time--Recapping the rules: Read an average of a book a week - 52 books in 52 weeks Re-reading a book counts--as long as you first read it before 2009 School related books don't count (unless you want them to) ___________________ I finished "Over My Dead Body" by Rex Stout--an easy genre read, but I'm soooo busy. Of course, I read another mystery too... This week I'm travelling to Arizona to care for my grandmother, so I want something relatively easy again. My dh has suggested : Wild Cards, Volume 1, ed. by George R. R. Martin. Here goes!

I finished my third in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, The Indigo King. I really enjoyed it--makes me want to brush up on my Arthurian mythology, as well as ancient Greek. This is the last published in this series, so I'll have to take a break for a while. Next week my sister in law is visiting, so I"m looking for some brain candy that I can read in an evening. Therefore, back to an old favorite author, but a new book to me:

So sorry to hear that! What a terrible way to end the day. I hate those huge mommy messes. Maybe there will be some things that are salvageable?

"So, Mom... what does the clitoris do anyhow?" I have to add, this was totally out of the blue. We were taking down the Christmas tree at the time. We are factual and open about sexuality, etc... and that body part is labelled in the children's book we've read in the past on reproduction (It's Not the Stork). And it does pretty much tell you what everything else is for. So when push comes to shove, what kind of mom am I? "Well... it's a part of the female body that's main function is to provide women with feelings of pleasure during sexual intercourse with their husbands." My mind is racing--what will he say? "Oh... then... that's pretty pointless." "Well, women don't feel that way about it." "Oh." And back to the discussion of our Star Wars christmas ornaments, and whether or not the Emporer is evil, or just a bad guy. I guess it's a male thing.

It really is good! So good, in fact, that I'm going to read book 3 either this week or next... And, since I was asked in an email, no foul language, sex or anything else to make it inappropriate for kids. Kids who can read well. And more amusing the more you know about CS Lewis et al.

Yep... it is a pre-paid shipping sort of thing. However, Amazon is frequently MUCH cheaper than brick-and-mortar stores. I think in the long run, prime pays back in encouraging me to order books less expensively online than go and spend in person and pay full price for my immediate gratification. Of course, I'm a recovering book addict. I went book-purchase-free last year (2008) so I'm just coming off cold turkey and trying to have restraint.

I love Screwtape Letters! I used to have an audio book version (on tape, back when such a thing existed) read by John Cleese that would make me crack up. I think things that connect humor and faith are just awesome in general.

Me too... I find myself feeling guilty when I buy at the bookstore... it's always so much cheaper to get Amazon Prime, and I can usually wait 2 days for something with no problem.

I'm pretty liberal about movies and such... but I personally found The Dark Knight very disturbing. Not so much just the violence, but the psychotic meaningless violence was waaaay too realistic for me. My dh loved it, but I would probably nix a 12 year old... or even a 13 year old. Maybe 15.

We don't have constipation issues here... but my kids also consider prunes (or, "dried plums", to be pc about it) as a great dessert or sweet snack. Bwa ha ha!!!

Now you just need all the expansions--Knights and Cities, Barbarians and Traders, or Seafarers. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Catan_Series And the 5-6 player expansion for the original game, or for each of the expansions. Or, if you don't want to have to play, how about the 2 person version card game? Similar, but with a mechanic that doesn't require multiple players! Also a great game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/278 And if you like it, you can by a collection of expansion for the 2 player card game too-- http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2915 And you can also play it on your Xbox with people over the internet--would that get you off the hook?

Whew! Week 1 is done! Everyone finished? Or pretty close? Congratulations, readers! Tonight it's time to start book #2. You can post here, and post a review if you want at the wonderful blog set up by My2Blessings. Make sure your name is on the list there as well. http://read52booksin52weeks.blogspot.com/ ___________________ Feel free to join in at any time--Recapping the rules: Read an average of a book a week - 52 books in 52 weeks Re-reading a book counts--as long as you first read it before 2009 School related books don't count (unless you want them to) ____________________ My first book was The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica: The Search for the Red Dragon. I'm planning on reviewing it on the blog, but in short--great fantasy novel for a classical schooler. A decent knowledge of ancient Greek myth makes it all the better! My week 2 book will be the third in this series, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica: The Indigo King. I'm also simultaneously reading a longer non-fiction history book, A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones. It is dense, comprehensive, and I won't finish it in a given week if I want to digest the material thoroughly. So my plan for now is to read it alongside whatever book I'm doing for a given week, and then count it as the book of the week during the week that I actually finish. Make sense?