The Mills

This is my first meme – I think I was tagged by SG a long time ago and never finished it.

1. Where is your cell phone? my pocket

2. Significant other? definitely

3. Worst bad habit? Procrastinating – same as SG

4. Hair? Too long, mine and boys’ both

5. Favorite food? blueberry chocolates

6. Your favorite thing? computers and books

7. Your dream last night? none

8. Favorite drink? Root beer microbrews

9. Dream/goal? PhD

10. Room you are in? Mom’s living room

11. Your ex? nope

12. Your fear? locked in to medicrity

13. Where do you want to be in six years? Sleeping

14. Where were you last night? Mom’s house

15. What you’re not? vapid

16. Muffins? yes, blueberry esp

17. Wish list item? fixed hot water supply in house

18. Where did you grow up? America

19. Last thing you do? sleep

20. What are you wearing? slacks and dress shirt (white)

21. Your TV? Wii and VHS

22. Your pets? children

23. Your computer? several

24. Your life? calming, but still ambitious

25. Your mood? peaceful – the kids are asleep!

26. Missing someone? nope

27. Your car? Honda, fire danger

28. Something you are not wearing? shoes

29. Favorite store? http://www.harryanddavid.com (caution – your money will flee from you!)

30. Your summer? far away

31. Love someone? carefully

32. Last time you laughed? with kids

33. Last time you cried? Cowboys don’t cry

Tagging:

1) Bart and Jen
2)James and Heidi
3)Adele the Sister

Kyle is now a regular walker and doesn’t want to be left out of anything. We have been recognising words for awhile, but “No” is coming out very clearly now. He uses it very politely. Today at lunch I offered him some more food and he said his simple “no”, then grunted to let me know he wanted down. I cleaned his up and unbuckled him. Then he gave me a cheery “thah-tho”(thanks you). It is so fun to be really communicating.

So these two kids (around 16 or so) came to the door tonight.  They were going door to door on a project affiliated with “The Movemeant” [sic], where effectively they were selling magazines but trying to bill it as a charitable act.  They claimed that every time they sold, they got points – and once they hit 20,000 points and demonstrated a work ethic thereby, they got to be counselors at some youth camp.

There was some officious-looking document [laminated, of course] that they used for bona fides, and they played hard on the ‘charitable acts’ and ‘learn a work ethic’ side of things.  I initially was willing to do so, although not super interested in any of the magazines they were selling. 

They added that if I didn’t want to actually receive the magazines, they’d pick which ones to buy and send them to disadvantaged families as a literacy project.  This was the first red flag, as they had magazines like ‘Maxim’ listed – and Maxim counts like comic books to me, as far as literacy goes.  Still, going along with the hard work and charitable giving ethic, I was decided to participate anyway.  [ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, etc. - http://scriptures.lds.org/en/mosiah/4/16#16]

I asked Cynthia about the budget, to see what we have to offer.  Having realized that we haven’t done the budget yet this year, I went to defer – asking the two petitioners to return later when we knew how much we could give.  He pushed harder, asking me to just come up with something, and I refused – repeating that if he returned in a few weeks when we know the budget better, I might be able to help.  As he left, he saw our picture of Jesus in the entryway, and made an attempt at inducing guilt by stating that Jesus would help people like him.  Fortunately, he was already on the way out – so no response was necessary.

 As I look back on it, clearly he thought that since we have a big house in a nice neighborhood we can simply play fast and loose with our money and be fine.  I think it’s good I didn’t give him the lecture that comes to mind when I think of this, because it would not have helped either of us.  [We're a young and growing family - the house is a huge expense right now, but the right thing to do long-term.]  But I can find no documentation online of anything called ‘The Movemeant’ associated with youth camp or selling magazines for work ethic training and points.  Part of me wonders now if they weren’t simply trying to scope out houses to break in later, although their appearance was not scruffy in the slightest.

In sum, I’m conflicted – I’ve suffered the petitioner to put up his petition in vain, and yet I’m not sad about it.  I would have paid if we’d known the budget allowances for charity already, trusting in the Lord to make sure the charitable act helped someone in the end.  I’m glad I didn’t because I have no idea who ‘The Movemeant’ is, or even if they really exist.  For all I know, the kids would have taken the money and used it for their own ends.

So breakfast, in a family context, can be quite a challenge.  On the one hand, I had cold cereal quite often growing up and am usually pretty satisfied with it.  Additionally, I grew up with a catch-as-you-can attitude towards breakfast.  On the other hand, Cynthia much prefers hot breakfasts.  On the yet other hand (how many hands do you have? ) we believe that as we eat together, we bond as a family.

So the question – do you have cold or hot breakfast?  Do you wait for everyone to be ready, or just get started? Seems like a pretty simplistic thing to struggle with in the mornings, but there it is.

Bananas with cereal, anyone?

Well, due to the complexities of Drupal, and the difficulties of setting it up, we’ve moved the family site to Wordpress.  It’s a much easier install, and works pretty well too.  We’ll get it fully set up as we go.