I just finished watching all nine–NINE!!–seasons of The Office on Netflix. It kept me company while I was sewing or folding laundry, and occasionally while I was cooking. Yes, that is a lot of laundry.
Did you ever watch this show? Bill and I watched almost every week for the first few seasons and then we just lost interest. It was fun to see the story arc as the show moved from season to season. Frankly, seasons 7 and 8 were a train wreck. But if you ever watched and enjoyed the first couple of seasons, it is worth watching the last two shows of the series. They were pitch-perfect, so sweet that I’ve actually watched them twice and might watch them again.
But the reason I wanted to blog this is for Pam’s sweet statements at the end of the show. In this clip, her last statement makes up the last words of the whole series. And it even gave me something to think about in the midst of my ordinary laundry and dinners.
“There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”
Hope your weekend is going great. The trees have turned in a spectacular way here in Georgia. Time to get out and make some pictures. Here are just a couple of things I’ve run across this week:
Twenty-five years ago, the Berlin wall came down. Can you believe it was that long ago? Some thoughts from a former US soldier in Berlin: The Fall of the Berlin Wall. (Via Instapundit)
Christmas is coming. Least surprising news this week, I know. But have you seen Sew Mama Sew’s list of projects for a Handmade Holiday?
I published mine first, but here is Michael Hyatt’s list of his ten most influential books. (You can listen to his podcast, too.)
And for your listening pleasure…
Timothy Keller’s sermons are always worth multiple hearings. I was surprised to see not one but three new ones on my podcast subscription this week. (Score!) This is his podcast link, and the first one, on idols, has me thinking.
Do you use Spotify? I’m using this playlist but I need to branch out. What are your favorite playlists?
Have you run across anything really interesting this week? Please share in the comments. And have a great weekend!
I was quiet here a little longer than I expected! Sorry about that.
We are down to one trick-or-treater in our house, plus a sweet friend.
We are deep into late fall school around here, and Halloween came and went. Halloween used to be a huge deal around here, with costume planning going on for weeks and weeks. With Halloween on a Friday this year, we had a football game! Jack had to play in the pep band, so it was just the girls at home for Halloween night. Paige gave out candy with her grandparents and Darcy went trick-or-treating with a friend.
We were in the visitor’s stands. Apparently a lot of the home fans were trick-or-treating that night.
It seems like a long way from hanging out on the front porch with neighbors while we handed out candy. A little sad, but it’s a different season and so we are enjoying it. And Landmark won the game big, so that was great!
Saturday ushered in real wintery weather, forty degrees and windy! So we enjoyed a cozy day at home and all the girls pulled out their Uggs. Snuggly.
The fireplace is gone now, too.
Our big (good) news from this week is our house! Our new home is being built on the site of an older house, so we had to demolish that one. (Yes, I feel a little bad about that. But we couldn’t make the little three-bedroom ranch work.) Finally the demolition has begun, and we couldn’t be happier. On top of that, we got the final version of the plans delivered, and our builder has them, too, so we are eager to get moving on that next week.
Being involved in this process is like watching paint dry. I know it will seem fast once we are in our new house, but it isn’t easy to be patient.
Our bad news from this week is Matthew’s concussion. Yes, his second, so his season is over for football. We are all sad, Matthew most of all, because he loves his team and his coaches with all of his great big heart. The final regular season game is tonight, and we should be attending, but I’m waiting for Matthew to tell me he feels like going. So far I haven’t heard anything.
We would welcome your prayers for healing for Matthew on this one! He’s like me–he never prays for patience and not very good at it to begin with. Being still and quiet enough for all the healing to take place is a struggle, but it’s what his body needs most of all right now.
We are looking forward to two horse shows this month, and the beginning of wrestling season for Jack. Matthew hopes to start when he gets the “all-clear” from our doctor. Thanksgiving, too, which we are happy to host again this year. It’s Bill’s favorite holiday and he laid claim to hosting this one years ago.
Hope you have a great weekend! Do you have anything out of the ordinary planned for the week?
Sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. That’s not a choice we want Americans to make.
I can’t let it pass. Whether or not Obama misspoke, he is wrong and wildly out of line.
Assume he intended to say exactly this: It’s not his choice to make. As my 16-year-old son said tonight, “I thought he was pro-choice.” First, it sounds as if he believes that every person should maximize their earnings, I suppose so we can maximize our tax payments. He isn’t clear there. Second, this line came in a part of the speech advocating government-subsidized child care. So he is advocating putting more very young children under government supervision. No thanks.
Assume he meant to say: “…And that’s not a choice we want Americans to have to make.” (I think this is what he meant to say.) So he is saying that a woman shouldn’t have to risk a lower lifetime earning potential because she opts out of the workforce and works less over her life? How do those who choose to stay in the workforce react to that? This makes no sense–I don’t see how you incentivize workers if those who work more earn the same over their lifetime as those who come and go out of the workforce. If he is merely advocating increased government-funded childcare, he is trying (once again) to increase the number of people who feel they wouldn’t be able to survive without help from the government.
But in both cases, he is either taking away a choice (to stay home and choose to work less) or he wants to insulate people from the results of their choices. Neither is appealing.
The government shouldn’t be in the business of restricting choices. Yes, I know it happens all the time. That is what the tax code does. I despise it.
The second, though, seems to be a mindset really prevalent in today’s progressivism: No matter your choice, all outcomes are equal. All paths lead to exactly the same destination, the one “we” choose. And if that doesn’t worry you, I can’t help you in this blog post.
Have the baby or not…no difference.
Work or stay home…no difference.
Marry the dad or not…no difference.
Work hard to get ahead, sacrifice…no difference.
There is only one yardstick in Obama’s world, the bank account. And one measurer, the government.
The problem is that actions do have consequences. The choices we make, make us. Shielded from these consequences, borne through life in a grey sludge of equal outcomes, we will never learn and grow and become who we were created to be. I do not choose that.
The funny thing is that our president, who likes to tout “settled science,” utterly disregards studies like the ones I cited in an earlier post, about maximizing marital satisfaction and also the marriage premium that exists in the US today. And just yesterday I ran across this study that suggests that the most productive workers in the US are moms of two or more kids! What is he complaining about?
I’d like to know what you think about this. I’m unhappy but not surprised. Even Darcy knows that “This is my choice to make, not the government’s.”
