A Wandering Aramean: Sevensies

Another edition of Seven Quick Takes, as sponsored by Conversion Diary.

One

I've been all about the Fiber One granola bars lately - yummy, filling, portable, and only 2 points! Unfortunately, they have peanut flour in them so they are totally off-limits for AllergyGirl Asparagus. Several times this week we've had the conversation, "Mama, I want thaaaaat!" and response, "I'm sorry, sweetie, these have nuts in them! They'll make you sick."

So yesterday, Asparagus was walking around "eating" something imaginary. She then made a point of walking over to me, holding one hand in front of her in true talk-to-the-hand style, and saying, "NO, Mama. Has NUTS." In other words, nuts = I'm not sharing!

Two

I got nice new internet this week. We'd had AT&T for two years, but I never really got over the trauma of setting up our service. They lost our first order for service, then found it, then duplicated it, then had some bad line at our house, but didn't think it was their fault, but it was... all in all, M spent over FIFTEEN HOURS on the phone just to get our phone and internet set up. And we didn't even want the phone! Oh, and then when we sent back the duplicate modem that they sent us in error we didn't get a refund for it (that we were promised over the phone), and they never sent us the rebate for the modem we kept. So they owe us about $100, but kissed that money goodbye long ago.

So when a couple guys from the local cable company came to our door with a better deal and told us we didn't need cable TV or phone service to get it, I jumped right on board. And this is what happened: The guy who was supposed to come out and set it up came out and set it up right when he was supposed to. He called twice to give us an accurate idea of when he would be there. He laid a new wire outside, hooked up the modem, set it up on my computer, and set up a secure connection for us, as well, all for no extra charge. The connection speed isn't noticeably different; if anything, it's faster than AT&T. The big test will be when we get our first bill - will it be what's been promised, or will we see all the extra charges we did for MONTHS with AT&T? If it's as promised... well, let's just say I thought that kind of customer service only existed in Japan.

Three

We've decided to sell our house. REALLY decided. That's all.

Four

I'm a regular reader of a couple of fantastic Catholic mommyblogs and have noticed the concept of "being perfected" mentioned there a couple times. It's used in the context of daily struggles, big or small, being the means by which God "perfects" them. So I'm not Catholic, and I don't exactly know what this means, but a couple things strike me about this. First is the full meaning of the word "perfect." We all know this to mean "without flaw," but it has a larger theological meaning of completion. One of the reasons we say that God is perfect is because he is complete; he doesn't need to grow or learn or change. So in this context, my struggles are being used to complete me, to perfect me.

I think the Reformed version of this is sanctification, the oft-forgotten second stage of the salvation equation. First we're justified and made right with God, but after that we spend the rest of our lives being sanctified - that is, being made more holy. Perfected, I guess. In the last week or so, I've discovered that it's much easier to deal with a situation I don't like by reminding myself that it's part of my path to sanctification rather than thinking about it as some crap that God' not changing for me EVEN THOUGH HE COULD. Path to sanctification. Path to sanctification. Path to sanctification.

Five

M has had two unpaid weeks off this year thanks to the stellar economy. As a result, he realized this week that he has quite a bit of vacation time left and will be taking next week off! We'll be hanging out at home and working on the house. So we can sell it. Did I mention that we're selling it?

Six

In further M news, Gov. Granholm visited his workplace today as part of the official announcement of a $299.2 million federal grant that his Company is receiving to jumpstart domestic battery production. Five hundred fifty new jobs projected to arrive soon - this is a Very Good Thing for our area!

Seven

We used to be citizens. Now we're consumers. We're both, of course... but what difference does it make in our society to hear ourselves continuously referred to as "consumers" rather than "citizens?" How much of an effect do semantic changes have our behavior?

For the record, here's a vote for "citizen."

4 Comments

"reminding myself that it's part of my path to sanctification rather than thinking about it as some crap that God' not changing for me EVEN THOUGH HE COULD."

:) Yup.

Posted by: Anna | August 07, 2009 at 07:30 PM