Friday bullets, Feb. 14, 2020

Happy Valentine's Day!

• We actually did something for Valentine's Day this year. That doesn't always happen. It is a holiday which tends to be ignored around our house. I had found at Aldi some small, cute, and affordable stuffed animals which I bought on a whim and surprised everyone with this morning. The general sentiment was one of pleased surprise, often accompanied by statements such as, "We never do anything for Valentine's Day!" Keep 'em guessing; that's my motto.
• My children also made and decorated Valentine's Day cookies. The younger half did most of the work with some help from older siblings were around. I left for Horse Power this afternoon, having shown them the recipe for frosting and leaving them with food coloring and sprinkles. (Let me tell you, my 30 year old self would never have done this! Food coloring?!) I did vaguely wonder what I would be coming home to. Well, I'm pleased to say that I came home to a clean kitchen and two sheets of decorated cookies.

• We are taking half of these around to our neighbors tomorrow for a slightly belated Valentine's Day gift. 
• K. continues to build amazing things with Legos. Today's creation was an AT-AT Walker, out of miscellaneous Lego parts. It even lights up because at some point we gave K. a light-up set of Lego compatible bricks. This is just from looking at a picture, I must add.

The passenger compartment

The back opens up.

The legs move, too.

• Earlier today he was working on another robot-type thing which he was trying to make move by creating gears out of Legos. He definitely had the idea but was having difficulty executing it. He has set it aside for the moment because he was frustrating. Learning to leave things when you have reached your frustration point is one of my big life lessons I want each of my children to learn. So, this is a win all the way around.
• I am currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird because I never have and it weighs on me. It feels as though it is a book I should have read. I am about a third of the way through, now. I have to be honest and say so far it isn't really drawing me in and I have to force myself to open it. Does it get better, or am I going to slog through the whole thing? (That almost feels a little blasphemous because so many people love it.)
• The dishwasher is fixed! Hooray! And it was all covered by the warranty! A double hooray!! Now, getting through all the hoops to use the warranty and get a repair person out was... trying. Having the repairman show up an hour and fifteen minutes after the four hour window was also trying. But the repairman was extremely nice and fixed it in fifteen minutes. While G. loves to wash dishes and did the bulk of the dish washing this week (her choice), I'm pretty sure that she will be glad to do a few less dishes.
• P. has a new (to her) car! This is as exciting as a working dishwasher to me, because it means that one less driver is trying to share the van, making it easier to figure out the Tetris puzzle that is our family's vehicular state these days. P. has saved since she got home last year for a car, and found this one at a dealer, working the price down to what she had. J. took her and said it was the easiest car purchase he has ever made. It is a stick, to P. couldn't drive it home, but since then has figured it out and does quite well. Brava, P.!
• The program on sharing poetry with children that J. and I did yesterday went well. We had a decent turnout despite the slick roads and snow. If you missed it, we'd be happy to do a reprise for your group. 
• Finally, I'm going to leave you with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who, if you have not heard of him, was a German pastor, theologian, and anti-nazi dissident who was executed by the Nazis. I find it chillingly prescient. And just to be clear before you read it (if I haven't made myself clear on these points yet), while I used to be a member of the Republican Party, I find the party to be a disgrace to humanity. I will not vote for any Republican until they can find the soul that they so obviously sold in exchange for power. I will not support anyone who supports the current administration or the current president... a man who has publicly denigrated women, mocked people with disabilities, tolerated inhumane treatment to people of color, and blatantly disregarded the rule of law. 

"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one's prejudgment simply need not be believed -- in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical -- and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous." -- from "On Stupidity" - Letters and Papers from Prison, by Deitrich Bonhoeffer.