Megan finally allowed me to volunteer at her class today. I had a great time getting to know all of the kids and helping Megan’s teacher. Let me just say that I have no idea how one lady handles a class of 26 five and six year old so efficiently. There were a millions bits of order all over the place.
I especially liked helping kids with their phonics since that is how I learned how to read as well.
Maybe, if I am a good daddy, Megan will let me visit again.
Not sure what this had to do with Luke 1, but Megan learned in KidsTown that she couldn’t marry Paul. Glad she learned that. Especially before the wedding plans got too far along.
This wasn’t all that momentous of a thing, but it was pretty cool. But we just got done giving Stoney a bath. Paul acted as the gate and Kristen and I lured Stoney into the bath room. After some manipulation (20 minutes or so) he got in the bath.
So, our dog smells good for a couple of days.
Not sure why I got a kick out of this. But I finally got my leaves to burn. There is something very primal about staring into the flames of a fire, burning stuff, and tending to a fire. I always think of it as a pre-historic television… you sit around the thing to keep warm and the stories start to come out of you.
I was also glad to see this primal fascination alive and well in Paul. Let’s just hope he doesn’t express this fascination in the house.
Living in a house built 135 years ago has it’s benefits. I love the history of the property, I love the old world feel to the house, I love little things like the 11 inch woodwork that makes no sense, pocket doors, an amazing yard, on and on.
One thing I don’t like about an old house is that it is very hard to keep it warm. It’s a combination of a lack of insulation and inadequate duct work. If I had to do this house over again I would have installed radiated heat… but instead we have a blended system of forced air and electric heat. The result is that some areas are warmish while other areas are constantly drafty.
It’s been a joke of visitors that our house is always cold. People say "We’re going to Adam’s house, we need to dress warm." Or my personal favorite is a friend of mine who says "We McLane their house sometimes." (Now we’re a verb?) Why? Um, pretty simple… we can’t afford to keep our old house at 72 degrees. Even at 65 during the day and 58 at night, we’re a little worried about energy costs this winter.
Does this frustrate me? Not really. I grew up in "This Old House" so I am just used to it. The house I was born in was from the 1920s, the house my dad had is from 1888, he now lives in a 1920s house, on and on. It’s not an issue to me at all. I look at it from a historical perspective and say "For 135 years kids have been raised in this house and lived, so will mine."
My personal opinion is that most Americans are too comfortable in their homes. They waste water by washing several times a day, they heat their homes to feel like Florida during a Michigan winter, on and on. We tend to put personal comfort so much higher than we actually need that we simply are spoiled. I hear people say "I can’t live in a house that gets down to 58 at night." Um, you would adapt. They say "I need a shower twice a day or I break out." Um, maybe your skin is breaking out because of your constantly remove the natural oils your body produces? OK, I’ll stop whining.
The Chicago trip was great, but I’m wiped out completely. We got back at 2:00 am Sunday morning and I had to go "caffeinated" through the worship services to make it. Good trip, but I’m glad to be home and recovering.
In the last 24 hours we’ve gone from early Fall to the dead of Winter. When I woke up Tuesday morning it was 40 degrees at 6:00 am. By the time I left for work at 8:45 am it was 36. A clear sign of a cold front. Later in the morning Jason sang out "I see snow, it’s snowing on October 12th."It snowed off and on yesterday with little accumulation. Though I heard that further up in Michigan they got up to 8 inches.
I love Winter, I like snow, I even like a little cold air. But this is very early for it all to start. Another "problem" for us is that we had to crank on the furnace before we really wanted to. We were hoping to get another 10-15 days without having to heat to house fully… that didn’t happen.
Of course, this also puts a damper on Fall fun. Saturday morning we’re supposed to do the Corn Maze in Leonard. Unless it warms up I’m not certain I want to be out there! I’ll do it, but I can’t imagine a lot of others wanting to. Later Saturday I’m supposed to help at Simpson Park with an afternoon break-out session and speaking at the evening service of their Fall youth retreat. It’s going to be cold! (Guess that means I’ll have to turn up the heat, eh?)
How is it that I’m both energized and exhausted at the same time? I love what I do and I couldn’t think of doing anything else. Yet, at the same time I’m fatigued.
That doesn’t mean anything politically and that’s not meant in code or to mean anything else than this. I’m ready to get away and get recharged. I can feel that I need time to wander, time to dream, time to waste, time to listen and not talk, time to meet people for the sake of just meeting them, time to get lost or to not be worried about a detour, time to adventure, time to browse.
After all, how can I lead people when I’m too tired to want to lead people?
Good news. I have a whole week away coming up. In the words of Robert Frost, "I have miles to go before I sleep." As I think about NYWC: Cincinnati I can’t help but chuckle at the words of Mike Yaconelli. He began each conference saying something like, "We have X, Y, Z, but that’s just for your bosses. We don’t care what you do this week. Just get recharged. If you need to lock yourself in the hotel room for 5 days, go for it."
Of course, between that respite and today there is oodles of work. It’s tough sledding for the next month. I hope I have enough energy to get there.
It’s no secret that Fall comes quickly in Michigan. With the leaf duty just weeks away it’s time for us to start preparing what we can now in the house and around the house. Here’s a little list that we’re out to tackle this weekend.
Fun times, eh? Kristen loves Fall, and while I like it plenty… there is much to do. Winter in Michigan is absolutely inevitable.
Today Paul and I got to hang out since Kristen is volunteering in Megan’s classroom.
It’s always for to have "boy time" in the McLane household as I will readily admit that I’m not home as much as I’d like.
We started off with a movie. But A Bugs Life ended up being too scary for him so he lost interest. About 30 minutes into it he decided that we needed to go somewhere. He told me (get this!) to get the keys and get in the car.
I was bored, so I was game for Paul’s adventure. We got our shoes on and I kept asking him, "Where should we go?" He just told me that we would talk about it when we got in the car. So, boys buckled in and car started we sat in the driveway and the guessing game started. "Where?" Somewhere. "Somewhere where you buy things or somewhere where you play?" Buy stuff. "What store should we go to?" I don’t know. "Do they sell food?" Yes and other stuff. "OK, tell me what that place is like." You drive there and you walk around in carts and look at stuff. "Is it Meijer?"No, somewhere else. "OK, is a place near here?" I don’t know. "What do you like to buy there?" Well, they have some things that you buy that if they are on sale mommy will buy but only when it’s on sale. "Oh, so there is something you want daddy to buy?" Maybe if it’s on sale. "I see." (Thinking of all the things a 3 year old may want to buy. By this time I’m just driving and not sure where we are going.) Not really frustrated I just told him where I thought we should try. "Do you want to go to Kmart?" I think so!
So, this is when I realized I was being set up. He had seen something with mom and mom had told him, "Let’s wait until it goes on sale." Paul had decided that this minute was the time to cash in because daddy is a softie. (It’s a shame that they already know this about me!)
As we got in the store he made it clear about the cart thing. Then we started going through the store and I had no idea what he wanted. Torturing him, I skipped the toy aisle. But he didn’t care! So, we headed towards the back of the store and he started to talk about Halloween candy. Two seconds later, we were at the Halloween aisle, completely snookered by a 3 year old I knew he had set me up. He said, "Look daddy, they have Batman costumes, maybe there is one in my size this time." Uh-huh. Yeah, I walked right into his evil plan.
So, we got the costume… and since I was getting the wool pulled over my eyes he scored a Sprite and some chips too. Mom came home and I was left sitting here… completely bamboozled by a 3 year old.