Long Weekend
The schools like to combine three-day weekends with parent/teacher conferences. Last weekend, my childcare responsibilities started on Thursday, Feb. 17, at noon with Rachel and Sarah's early release. They didn't attend school on Friday, and I picked up David and Kola early at 11:15 that day. None of the children attended school on Monday, Feb. 21, which was Presidents' Day.
Of course, Concordia didn't cancel any classes on Thursday, Friday, or Monday, and we're at the point in the semester that Jonathan's schedule is getting very busy.
My "day off" on Monday included a bad fight between four of the children, so I took the younger three to the park for hours of exercise. It helped, since I managed to wear them out.
Tuesday morning came, the kids were back in school, and I had to go to work. I'm still recovering from last weekend. I wish I could look forward to long weekends with all my kids, but I much prefer spending time with them one-on-one.
American Slang
In a movie that we watched recently at home, one of the characters yelled "What in the Sam Hill was that?" I didn't think twice about it, but one of our kids asked me "Who is Sam Hill?" It had never crossed my mind to think about the origin of this euphemism.
Many sources describe Sam Hill as a personification of the devil, probably used to avoid saying the "H" word. Some sources mention that the phrase originated as early as the 1800s.
The Wikipedia article on "Sam Hill" lists several possibilities as to the origin of the phrase. Who knows what's accurate but here are the ones I liked the best:
". . . an article in the New England Magazine in December 1889 entitled "Two Centuries and a Half in Guilford, Connecticut" mentioned that, “Between 1727 and 1752 Mr. Sam. Hill represented Guilford in forty-three out of forty-nine sessions of the Legislature, and when he was gathered to his fathers, his son Nathaniel reigned in his stead” and a footnote queried whether this might be the source of the "popular Connecticut adjuration to ‘Give ‘em Sam Hill’?"
H. L. Mencken suggested that the "Sam" in the phrase derives from Samiel, the name of the Devil in
Der Freischütz, an opera by Carl Maria von Weber that was performed in New York in 1825.
Another possibility for the origin of this expression is from the Swedish word for "community" which is "samhället". Some Swedish immigrant to the United States might have said, "Nu ver in de samhället has Johnny gone to?!", and it became anglicized, repeated, and immortalized."
Leave it to the Swedes!
Humor
My sister wrote to me last Sunday:Mom and Dad [Benson] watched a Star Wars video with the kids while Andrew and I went out for a Valentine’s date last night. (Mom and Dad couldn’t stand Star Wars....but I think they were good sports about it all.)
As we discussed Star Wars at lunch today, the kids (with my urging) asked Grandma and Grandpa some trivia questions about Star Wars. My favorite was when the kids asked Mom and Dad if they knew what a “light saber” was..... Mom didn’t say anything but Dad said.....”it’s a piece of candy with a hole in the middle” ! We all completely cracked up.
What a Difference!
After a 2' snowfall with the blizzard and then almost a week of temps below 10 degrees, our current above-freezing weather feels positively BALMY!
JB Spells Infatuation
Last Sunday night, Rachel, Sarah, and David watched the Super Bowl at the Concordia Student Center with about a hundred college students. Sarah was glued to the TV set for 3-1/2 hours, but at one point she tore herself away from the screen for a short bathroom break. During those few minutes, she missed the event that she had waited for so long. JB (aka Justin Beeber) starred in one of the commercials. Alas, such sweet sorrow!
Postscript: Batten Down the Hatches
Last Tuesday night, at our devotions after supper, we sang the following hymn verse that the family is learning:
O God, our help, in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.The snow blew horizontally outside. A few hours later, I couldn't even see the steps of the houses across our street. They had been piling high with snow, while our stairs were swept clean by the ferocious wind. Now the snow swirled thickly in the air, obscuring my view of houses that are not very far away. Lighting flashed in the sky, and thunder crashed, although the sound was muffled by the snow.
The words "thundersnow" and "stormy blast" took on new meaning for me that night.
Earning Potential
Blizzards are lucrative business! Our older five kids shoveled snow all day yesterday, earning over $200 as a group. And the best part? It wore them out!
Batten Down the Hatches
Everyone's talking about the coming blizzard. Cancellations are swirling on my Email like snow. Jonathan and I have stocked the pantry, and even more importantly, obtained DVDs from the library. As long as we don't have to drive anywhere, we'll hole up at home and be cozy.
To this Texan, it's pretty exciting!
