Quick Takes Friday!

1-
We got our new digital camera this week (yeah!) and we took a trip to the park to do P.E. on Wednesday. Hubby downloaded the pictures to the computer for me, so here area few shots...notice how nice the motion shots are...I really should post a few bad pics from our old camera, but I'm not feeling that ambitious. Also, hubby found out that our new camera cord works for his beloved cell phone...so the smaller pictures are from there (just in case you couldn't figure it out by picture quality alone!)

2-
Speaking of Wednesday...Ash Wednesday...it ALWAYS amazes me at how many people show up for Mass on Ash Wednesday! Our church was packed at 7:15 PM, and we didn't get home until after 8:30, then we gave the girls the quickest and most drama queen inducing of baths ever and sent them to bed. When we went Thursday night for Mass, the parking lot was empty (there were 4 other people at the Mass, and I think only 2 of the 8 of us stayed for stations of the cross...I'm hoping some other people showed up after we left!)

3-
Charlotte is finally on an antibiotic. We had to take her in AGAIN on Monday (they wouldn't just call one in for her...) and our doc was booked up again, so I tried another one. I've decided that I like him for sick kids...maybe it's just because Charlotte didn't scream her way through the appointment, and the appointment ended with a prescription...

4-
About an hour or so ago, I told Eva to go get dressed. She asked why, and I said so we could start school...she burst into tears and said "I don't want to do school today!"...so we are skipping school until tomorrow. It turns out the breakdown wasn't an "I hate school" moment...instead of doing HER school, she wanted to teach Charlotte school...so hubby and the girls are in the girls room right now teaching Charlotte school.

5-
I had my second appointment leading up to gastric band surgery...this one was with the dietitian. So, on Tuesday hubby was off, and the four of us drove with hubby's mom up to the front range for her appointment (infusion for her MS) and mine. A lot of times, she'll have multiple doctor's appointments, but this time it was just one for her at 2pm and one for me at 2 pm (about 20 minutes away from each other), so we all took the girls to Chuck E Cheese's. Talk about good advertising on PBS...Eva's been seeing their sponsorship of her favorite PBS shows for years, and I didn't think too much of it. You would've thought we were at Disneyland! The girls had such a great time, and by the end, Eva had a pack of kids she was dragging around, and Charlotte was flirting with a bunch of little boys...I'm in so much trouble with those two!

6-
Along with my appointment with the dietitian, I had to do some blood tests and an EKG. I was a little freaked out by the idea of an EKG, but actually it was really easy! It took the woman doing the test longer to place the electrodes on me than it took to run the test. When I got down for the blood work, I found out that I was also supposed to do a breath test for some sort of stomach bacteria...but that I had taken some medicine that I couldn't have for two weeks before the test, so I'll have to go back in and do that test when I go up for my psychological evaluation and sleep study in two weeks.

7-
Charlotte was so impressed by the ashes for Ash Wednesday, that she's been able to talk about little else since then...she keeps pointing to her head and talking about ashes (particularly when we are at church, because the bowls that were used for the ashes are part of the Lenten decorations. Our parish is really into symbols (which I have to admit, I really don't get...but when in Rome...) and the symbol they have for everyone to take home this lent is a nail...it makes sense, but I am not bringing home a nail (they aren't sharp or anything, but I see no good that could come from one in our house this Lent) now, our parish has a HUGE number of small children (the 12 ladies currently in my bible study have 27 kids...and the 3 who have dropped out for now have an additional 10, with the oldest of all these kids being 7...not to mention all of the other women in our parish with little ones...) so why a NAIL seemed like a good symbol, I guess I am just not understanding!

There are as always, more quick takes at Jen's blog...and her new baby is due on Monday! How exciting!!!

Hurley has a blog!

Okay, thanks to Danielle Bean, I now know that Jorge Garcia (who plays Hurley on LOST) and I am really enjoying it...I particularly related to this post involving coupons!

Oh yeah, and an update on the digital camera...it really does seem to be broken, so we researched cameras last night and ended up purchasing one...we're just doing our part to stimulate the economy! (And I am really looking forward to that kids and pets setting!)

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
It's payday!!! YEAH!!! We actually didn't quite make it to payday this time, since the girls got sick. I took some funds out of our medical sinking fund for a prescription, pedialyte, Popsicles, a few groceries (including really expensive frozen squash that the girls wouldn't eat...the doc recommended it for helping Charlotte's poo hold together...but they DID eat it in muffin form, and didn't know any better!) and BLEACH. I have bleached Charlotte's sheets about 4 times this week.

2-
A quote from last night's dinner. "Other than the throwing up, Dinner was REALLY good!" hubby spoke those words...Charlotte did the throwing up.

3-
I am really blessed to have my MIL (even if she is a little bit nuts...) She had an Altar and Rosary meeting a few towns over from ours, and afterwards she was going to come see the girls. Well, shortly before her visit, Eva took a horrible turn for the worse, and was whiny, her ears hurt, she was crying and flopping around. I don't know how much of it was genuine, but I have a feeling a big portion of the dramatics was due to not getting as much attention as her sister...so I called MIL to see where she was. She asked if she should stop and get me a mocha on the way here, and I told her that it would be very appreciated...particularly if she picked up something for Eva. So, she brought us all drinks from the coffee shop AND she had apparently stopped at the grocery store on the way here to get a few things for her house, and she got a bunch of stuff for our house, too!

4-
Among the Twinkies and jello and chicken soup MIL brought ingredients for a salad she had in San Diego the night before they went on their cruise. It was SOOO good that I'll put a sort-of kind-of recipe here:
1/2 head of leaf lettuce (I'm not sure what the original salad had...we only have two varieties available out here)
1/2 bag of baby spinach
1/2 small package of blueberries
1/2 small package of blackberries
1/2 container of blue cheese crumbles
1/2 c. or so of sugared walnuts (I toasted some in a skillet with butter and brown sugar...it worked for me!)
She told me that it didn't have a dressing at all, that the fruit just kinda made a dressing...well, maybe they had juicier fruit out in California...but I added a little bit of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to the top...

5-
I just checked our bank account (to make sure that hubby's paycheck really did make it in there, etc...) and found out that OUR TAX REFUND FINALLY MADE IT!!! WOO HOO!!! (Okay, I have been obsessively checking for it since last Friday when it was supposed to arrive...) That means that we have 1/2 of our fully funded emergency fund in there! YEAH!!! And some money to work on some home improvement stuff. The bad news is that I think I broke our digital camera today (I was trying to upload a picture of my week, but it's not working for me...) so I may have to start looking for a new one...

6-
I am in the middle of planning a bridal shower for my BIL's fiancee. Her maid of honor is giving her one up where they currently live, but I think she needs a small town family shower. My family shower when coming into this family was a spice shower...really, that's only a good idea in a group of people who cook with more spices than chili powder, garlic powder and garlic salt...I got about three each of those. So, I've proposed an "around-the-clock" shower where each guest is assigned an hour to pick a themed gift for...and maybe a brunch to go with it. We'll see what the bride-to-be (they always call them "bride-elect" in the church bulletin...I'd never heard that term before we moved out to the boonies...) thinks about all of that. I've been having fun working on a photo card invitation at snapfish. Anyone have some good tips for bridal showers? Better theme idea? Fun (not dorky) games? Healthy food options for a shower?

7-
Last, but certainly not least, hubby's cousin Brittney is having surgery today. So, please say a few prayers that all goes well for her. Thank you!

As always, more quick takes are up at Jen's blog!

Meatless Meals

I can't believe how soon Ash Wednesday is...once I'm done with making weird meals out of what's left in the fridge and pantry preceding payday (3 cooked meals to go before I can go grocery shopping! YEAH!!!) I'm going to have to start worrying about fasting and abstinence from meat.

So, since Faith and Family LIVE is having a meatless meals collection, I thought I'd add my two cents.

Lentil Rice Casserole (I may have posted this before, but I didn't want to check through 3 years of posts...I know it sounds lame, but my girls eat this better than almost anything! The original recipe came from the tightwad gazette)

Combine in crock pot
6 cups water or broth or stock
1 1/2 c. lentils
1 c. brown rice
1 T. or more of whatever spice you feel like (I usually use spice combinations like Italian Seasoning, Southwest Seasoning, Asian Seasoning, Moroccan Seasoning)
Add chopped onion or garlic if you like it and have it on hand
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, a few minutes before serving, sprinkle about a cup of cheese over the top (maybe mozzarella if you do Italian, cheddar if you do southwest, feta if you do Moroccan, etc.) Serve, watch kids devour.

Fried fish (I think I originally got this off of AllRecipes.com...it was during one of those times when I was trying to cook solely from my stockpile without going to the store)

Take white fish (whatever type you like or can find...we don't have a lot of fish options out here in cow country...) dry off any surface moisture. Let soak in a pan of Sprite (7up, etc) for a couple of minutes, turn and soak other side. Dredge in pancake batter and pan fry in a little bit of oil until crispy and cooked through.


Pizza (Cheese pizza is the end all be all of meals around here...okay, they like pepperoni pizza, too...but for Lent, we are all about the cheese...) I've used this recipe for years, so I don't now where I originally found it.

Pizza Dough (makes 2 crusts)
2 1/4 t. yeast (one packet if you do it that way)
1 T. sugar
2 1/2 c. warm water
2 T. olive oil
1 T. salt
2 T. wheat gluten (nice to have, but I ran out a while back, and haven't replaced it yet...still works okay if you don't have the gluten)
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
5 1/2 c. white flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water; let stand for 10 minutes. Stir oil, wheat flour, gluten, salt and 4 cups of white flour into yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. when dough has pulled together, turn onto lightly-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl; place dough into bowl and turn to coat with oil. cover with a damp cloth and put into a warm place to rise (approximately 1 hour). Deflate dough and turn onto lightly-floured surface. Divide into third and form rounds. (If freezing extra dough for later, at this point, seal inside a gallon zip top bag and put in freezer.) Cover round(s) with cloth for 10 minutes. Roll out or toss dough; place on pan or baking stone sprinkled with cornmeal and top with spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce or garlic oil, then cover with cheese. Bake pizzas for 20 minutes at 425.

Store leftover dough in freezer, keep frozen shredded cheese in freezer (about 1 1/2 to 2 cups per pizza) and freeze leftover spaghetti or pizza sauce in ice cube trays. I use three cubes full of sauce for 1 pizza...if you like saucy pizza you might do 4 or 5 cubes.

So, there are some of my favorite meatless meals! Check out more over at Faith and Family LIVE.

Alone in a crowd

Today at Mass, the readings began with a description of Old Testament requirements for isolating people with leprosy and ended with Jesus healing a leper. Father mostly focused on the metaphorical sense in which these readings could be taken, with physical illness being symbolic of spiritual illness, i.e. sin.

One aspect of Father's homily that I really connected with was an anecdote about how, when he was a seminarian and helping teach a parish's first communion class, he had exlained Hell to the seven-year-olds. When asked about it, he told them that it was a state of being seperated from the presence of God forever. The kids really didn't understand this, despite several tries of wording it differently, so Father used the analogy of, "Imagine you are in a huge, crowded mall with your mommy, and you're holding your mommy's hand. Then imagine that, somehow, you lose your grip on her hand and suddenly, you are completely surrounded by people you don't know and can't find your mommy, no matter how hard you try. That's what Hell is like."

This idea, Father said, is basically his response when people-mostly men, he says-blithely laugh off the idea of Hell by saying something like, "Well, at least I'll have plenty of company there." Even if that were true, he said, each of those people would be isolated from God and, therefore, somehow isolated from one another (even if not actually physically). They would each be in their own personal Hell, even if it "looked" to an outsider like a huge crowd.

One of my favorite songs in high school, recorded by Dave Matthews Band, included the lyrics, "People in every direction; no words exchanged, no time to exchange them." I think I really struggled with this feeling back then, and still do to some degree (although this has been hugely reduced by being married and having children). Maybe you know the feeling: like you're alone, even in the company of many others. Maybe you've noticed, when you meet someone on the sidewalk, the tendency many of us have of averting our eyes-avoiding even the momentary connection you might make with someone else.

God, please help me to remember that you made us to love one another and to share our lives with one another. If artificially seperating ourselves from one another is what it's like to be seperated from you, help us to find healing and come together in our families, our communities, and our world. Amen

PS: As you might suspect, Father did admit that the whole class of seven-year-olds wound up in tears. Oops! :-)

Kinda depressing...but...fitting...

Well, one of my favorite overly opinionated bloggers stole this from someone else, so I'm stealing it from her...(and if you spend any time there, make sure to read the category "Stupid Fascist Bastards"...just sayin'...)

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
I think that my MIL and my girls are probably all going through withdrawal...They haven't seen each other in 13 days...I'm actually pretty sure that this is the longest period of time since Eva's birth that they have been apart...MIL and FIL got home from their cruise, and FIL got sick...so on Tuesday when I hosted bible study at our house, hubby had to take the girls over one town to DQ and a basketball game instead of up to visit grandma. THEN, MIL was going to come down and help me out/hang out with the girls yesterday (hubby was out of town for most of the day), but SHE ended up getting sick, so she couldn't make it down...now Eva and I are getting sick...so the 13 days may drag on even longer!

2-
Continuing with my ambition in the kitchen, for bible study I made homemade fajitas and homemade tortillas...then I fell off the made from scratch wagon. I ended up using a Wanchai Ferry Chinese food from a box (cashew chicken, yum!) thing, which was really really good, and made me want to learn how to make Chinese food. I bought Edamame last time we were at WalMart (not something sold locally) because I thought it would be fun to try. Hubby wasn't so sure that it would be fun...it turns out that the girls LOVE edamame, and so I am thinking I may have to grow some this summer.

3-
Hubby is working in another town today...so, it (naturally) snowed last night (and of course, I didn't make the girls pick up all the outside toys yesterday because they of course had to come in the house and start whining at me while I was actually trying to accomplish something) and I woke up in the middle of the night to take some medicine, then Eva woke up about an hour later and we gave her some medicine...then hubby reset his alarm because he thought that the snow was going to keep him from traveling to the other town to work. So, he woke up at 5:30...called the boss at the out of town office, found out that he still needed to go, and jumped in the shower. I made him coffee, breakfast (toaster strudel still counts as making breakfast, right?) and gave him some cash for lunch. Then, I was about to head back to bed, and right when I was about to turn off the kitchen light, the phone rang (at 5:50 AM) so, I gave the guy hubby's cell phone number...there's really nothing like the phone ringing before 6 in the morning...

4-
Hopefully the roads will be okay this evening. One of the churches in the next town over is showing the movie "Fireproof" and offering free childcare...I'm very excited about the free childcare thing...and I've wanted to see Fireproof for quite some time now.

5-
Update on the library book on tape that Charlotte destroyed last Friday...hubby went into the library for me to see what we needed to do...they told him to bring back the special book on tape bag, but that our girls could just keep the book. They said we didn't need to replace it, because they were planning on buying a hardcover version of the book in honor of one of the women in town.

6-
I am anxiously awaiting our tax refund...according to TurboTax's first estimate, we should get our refund today...of course, it is not there yet. Then the IRS estimated it would be here by the 17th when I checked last week. When I checked this week, it said by the 24th...I'm really hoping for the 17th. Once it is in our savings, we will have 50% of our emergency fund funded...and we'll also have a little money for home improvement projects (hubby is sooo excited...not...)

7-
I recently subscribed to Cookie Magazine...I'm really not sure what my thinking was when I did so...I like getting magazines because sometimes that's about all I can handle. My favorite, of course, is Faith and Family. I used to get Good Housekeeping, but it grated on me after a while because of its idea of "budget" items, etc. So, after that ended, I subscribed to WonderTime (still have that subscription, too) which has some pretty good stuff, but is a little bit yuppy. I'm thinking that I thought Cookie might be a more family friendly good housekeepingish magazine that dealt with moms of younger kids...but I just read my first issue yesterday (I got two, so we'll see if I like the second one any better) and half the magazine was about s-e-x...and not in a good Catholic way, either...there's even a line drawing of a woman in a thong and garter on one page...so I don't even feel like I can keep the magazine at kid level and not get questions...

More quick takes, as always, over at Jen's blog!

Now, I know I'm insane...

...but this made me laugh until I cried...

7 Quick Takes Friday - In Case You Were Wondering??

1-
First of all, I went on retreat last weekend. The retreat billed itself as a "healing retreat", and I dragged my SIL along with me. I was the first person there in the morning (SIL missed the turn for the Knights of Columbus hall), and so I sat down at one of the tables, opened my folder, saw this, and contemplated running away...

In the end, I did stay, and I am much more comfortable with the concept and the practice of the "woo woo gifts" (as my table leader liked to call them...) Hubby, on the other hand is still VERY suspicious...particularly of speaking in tongues and being slain in the spirit...so I'm thinking that when our church has a charismatic retreat this summer that I might make him go!

2-
I changed our theme on gmail yesterday (to ninjas...just for hubby who thinks he ought to have been a ninja or a pirate...one of his coworkers told him that he snorts too much to be a ninja...and that's definitely true..) and it asked me to put in our city...so I did...and Gmail told me that I did not input a valid city name. In the end, this time I put in Denver (I don't know why Gmail needs to know where I am located for a ninja themed e-mail browser...) The last time this happened, I was entering a sweepstakes (a very dorky hobby of mine...wait...I don't have any non-dorky hobbies!) I think maybe it was for an RV...when I put in our city name, it told me that it did not have enough letters (as though I have control over how many letters are in our town's name...) that time, I got creative and used the name of another town that shares our zip code (and has about 100 people in it...)

3-
Last week for story time at the library, they met at the local museum and talked about buffalo bones and the Indians that used to live around here. So, Eva has been telling us all about the museum ever since. Hubby had Wednesday off, and really wanted to take the girls on a field trip (he wanted to do the Denver Zoo or Museum of Nature and Science...but as it was BEFORE PAYDAY, we ended up doing the closer and way more affordable local museum...) It's a good thing we didn't go much farther, because I don't think we even spent 45 minutes there...Naturally Charlotte pooped her diaper on the walk up and smelled terrible the whole time (that child WILL be potty training soon...) and we took the tour at Eva speed. It is a pretty neat museum...much better organized than the one in hubby's hometown.

4-
Continuing with my goal to make more things from scratch (such as the hot dog buns and tortillas I posted about already), and continuing with my new tradition of cooking steaks the dinner before payday (we're working our way through half a quarter beef...) we had a really tasty dinner last night of rib eye steaks, Au gratin potatoes and glazed carrots (The only veggies currently in the house are some carrot and celery sticks, a bag of frozen soup veggies, and the last bag of corn we put up this summer...) I really need more practice on timing from scratch items. Hubby grilled out the steaks, and also grilled a bunch of chicken legs while he was at it, so I have a meal for today half done already!

5-
You don't want to know how many times a day the girls want to watch the "Pug Summer" video that hubby posted here last week...not to mention the "Bad Pugs" video that if you want to see, you'll have to go over to YouTube (think really bad singing with words changed to relate to a pug using the theme song from COPS)

6-
Today is FILs 50th birthday. Most likely he is being harassed at meals on their cruise. I am wondering how the whole cruise boat thing is going. MIL called me right before they left (they were on the lido deck, with frosty beverages in hand) because they told her that cell phones wouldn't work once they set sail (MIL without her phone for a week is an entertaining thought! She's worse about her cell phone than hubby is about his...and he updates facebook mobily quite a bit now...) The cruise ends tomorrow, then they fly home on Sunday.

7-
I hope that they are having a good time, but I am REALLY looking forward to them getting back...you see, we get their dog when they go on vacation (I guess it's only fair, since they get our dog every time we go out of town...) She's a pug (Bubba's older sister) and her face is even more squished that Bubba's face. Well, she is used to being fed wet dog food that makes her smell (she's getting mostly dry here), sleeping in bed with MIL and FIL (she gets a pillow on the floor here) and getting lots of table scraps (it's a dog eat dog world around here...plus the kids don't drop too much, so she's really screwed...) She is a very sweet dog...but THE SNORING!!! I don't know if I can take it much longer...I'm already suffering from sleep deprivation, and I still have two nights to go!

Of course, there are plenty more quick takes over at Jen's blog!

BONUS EDIT...

So, I just finished up school with Eva, and part way through I noticed that Charlotte was playing with the library books...in particular a book on tape. I told her no, and to put the book back...she left it alone for a while. I looked up later, and noticed she had the book out of the bag, and told her to put it back...she couldn't so she brought it to me, and it was then that I discovered to my horror that she had pulled all of the tape out of the cassette...and actually severed it...so now hubby is going to stop by the library on the way home to find out how we can deal with this (if I can just order a new one for the library, it will be about $8...I remember library replacement fees for books to be $25 when I was a kid...I shudder to think what the standard replacement fee might be now...) Not a particularly good start to the day...

If hubby can do this...surely I can figure it out...

So, here goes!

Not to pat myself on the back or anything...

...but I just have to say that I rock!

Okay, so I'm a dork, but anyone who bothers to read this blog knows this already...

Our fridge is getting to be VERY pathetic looking, as payday is not until Friday. So, I've been getting a little ambitious with meal prep (other than the totinos pizza rolls for lunch yesterday since hubby had a last minute schedule change...)

On Monday, after my weekend retreat (more about that on Friday...I need to scan in a picture...) I made homemade sloppy joes, served with apples and homemade pickles. I got dinner in the crock pot early, and made Moroccan chicken casserole...then we decided to go up to my MILs house so that I could clean her kitchen while she is away on her cruise (and hubby had a meeting to go to up there) and I brought the crock pot along.

Yesterday night, I made homemade mac and cheese and dessert (a special request by Eva). We had a little leftover, and had that with brats on my homemade hot dog buns and homemade pickles for lunch today.

And tonight, I had 4 chicken thighs left over (uncooked) from when I made the chicken casserole, so I needed to get them used today. I didn't quite know what to do, so we decided on tacos. We roasted the chicken meat, defrosted a bag of my homemade refried beans (made last week in the crock pot), pulled out a little cheese, a jar of homemade salsa, and I made tortillas from this recipe. Served with corn that we put up this summer, I am feeling very pleased with myself.

And now a word from Eva, who was informing me that I could change the color of my text...

"Dear grandpa and grandma. I want to see you here but you are on vacation and I want to see you again and go on vacation with you."

...and now Charlotte

I sit. Mommy and daddy talk.

There you go...and I am going to go play sequence for kids now!

Beautiful pro-life music video

You might want to watch this without kids in the room, just because it's a love song to a child who was never allowed to be born...and your kids might not be old enough to have that conversation yet. Plus, if you react like I did, they will probably wonder why you're crying. (just a little, though!)

h/t to American Papist

25 things about me

So, I'm going on a little bit of a Facebook binge while MM is out of town on retreat. But this is really trying to be economical with my online time: I developed this list for Facebook and am now using it here because I thought someone out there might be a little bit interested. To be honest, I really got the idea from MM, who did exactly the reverse: after losing her first version of "25 things," she copied and pasted parts of her January quick takes from here to create a new list for Facebook. Anyway, here's this:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. [MM] and I are both apparently techno-dolts, as we both managed to lose our 25 things lists ([MM]'s after she thought she had published it, which may have ended her relationship with the notes application.)

2. This should not really be surprising, as we are both (a postal worker and a stay at home mom) walking, talking anachronisms.

3. Two books having to do with the "philosophical underpinnings" of a postal system, both of which I really enjoyed, are David Brin's "The Postman" (although I've never seen the Costner movie) and Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal."

4. No, I'm not going postal. And it's not really that funny, the 800th time it's been asked.

5. Although I can kinda see how it happens: bureaucracy's "irrationality of rationality" and all, a la Max Weber.

6. See? I (sort of) use my Sociology degree in my daily life!

7. I think, if I had it to do over, I might've majored in History. I tend toward that in much of my independent learning and reading now.

8. Not that I didn't enjoy a Soc major and minors in Philosophy and Peace and Justice Studies...but "enjoyed" don't pay the bills. Heh

9. I do think all the critical thinking exercise I received during this course of study helped me kick some serious butt on the LSAT. Too bad I really, really didn't want to be a lawyer, when all was said and done.

10. I'm pretty content now just providing for my family doing whatever will pay the bills in a morally acceptable way.

11. I don't know how it's going to look, but I really like the idea behind what [our alma mater] (I've read) is doing outside the Science Building w/r/t the interconnectedness of "faith" and "reason."

12. During my lifetime, I think I've gone from one extreme to other, thinking they were either/or. Now I think it's a largely false dichotomy, but there still is some creative tension between the two.

13. Maybe that's why I like "Lost" so much. I think it's BOTH sci-fi AND fantasy. Jack and Locke are both right.

14. W/r/t "Lost," though, I do lean more toward "goober" than "scooby." See http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1550612_20245769_20253740,00.html if you care to figure out what that means.

15. While at ew.com, I noticed a story called "29 films you saw too young." It's funny, because I was just thinking about how I had a hard time reading "Lord of the Rings" again when I was really old enough to get more out of it because I had probably read it too early, and how Eva's gotten some really cool toys that were just too old for her but then were trashed by the time she could really get something out of them. I think this is analogous to a lot of experiences (and lifestyle choices). But that's just me, and I probably never would've thought that when I was younger.

16. Going back to the faith and reason thing, we just saw Ben Stein's "Expelled" film. Whatever your feelings on intelligent design, evolution, etc. I can't recommend this documentary highly enough. It's so much better than I expected it to be.

17. I'd better stop rambling and hurry this up before I have to leave for work.

18. I'm paranoid about losing all this again and have been periodically copying the whole thing just in case.

19. I'm glad to have moved back out to the boondocks, although there are times I miss being able to go to lectures on a whim, etc. I think I actually miss the city more than [MM] does, though it's still not that much.

20. I'd like where we live a little more if I didn't have to drive by the Butte Motel every day. One side of the sign lost the last "e," so it now says Butt Motel. I don't know why that bothers me so much, but it really does.

21. We have a pug named Bubba.

22. We are beginning to suspect that our two-year-old, Charlotte, may be allergic to Bubba. This may become a problem.

23. I love my kids very much. It helps that they're already little dorks like their parents.

24. I'm proud of how [MM] and Eva are doing with the homeschooling so far. I am excited to see the fruits of this develop.

25. My life is totally not what I thought it was going to be ten years ago. Thank God!

And now for something completely different...

Yes, this is stupid. It also has me about to fall out of my chair laughing. You be the judge of whether that's a compliment to the song or an indictment of me!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
We ordered another Spanish program yesterday...Eva will be done with the first Kindergarten Spanish program in two weeks...I'm still looking for the perfect one, so if anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it! So far we have (almost) finished Teach Them Spanish, and have ordered Flip Flop Spanish.

2-
I finally made decent looking hot dog buns (they were a little crumbly, but I think this recipe has definite potential!) from these instructions.

3-
MIL, SIL, the girls and I went to see Matthew Kelly speak this week. He was really good...I just wish I hadn't missed the first part of his talk because of a VERY poopy diaper...(Speaking of poopy diapers...I don't remember for the life of me how we potty trained Eva...any pointers and tips? We are hoping to transition before too long!) Back to Matthew Kelly...we got a bunch of his books (surprise, surprise!) including his DVD set and workbook. MIL and I are hoping that we will be able to get our Women of Grace group back together to work through his study. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe we'll get it together for Lent.

4-
Since giving up diet soda and transitioning to coffee, I have discovered that it is necessary to buy those ginormous coffee containers...and for some reason, I find it a little disturbing to go through as much coffee and we are going through!

5-
A week or two ago, we got our annual form letter from the church detailing our giving for the year for tax purposes. This week, we got a form letter from Father saying that a form letter was not enough to express his gratitude for our support of the church...so, he apologized for the impersonality of a form letter with...another form letter!

6-
The girls get to go stay with Grandma tonight and tomorrow, as I am heading up to a women's retreat with my SIL. Then hubby will pick them up tomorrow evening, and on Sunday, I'll be coming home from the retreat, and MIL and FIL will be leaving for their cruise to Mexico.

7-
Okay, I'll fess up one of the items I was asking for prayers about now...This week I had my first appointment with a bariatric surgeon, and all is looking like it should work out. They see me as an excellent candidate for Adjustable Gastric Band surgery, and I fit our insurance company's specifications for qualifying. So, at this point, I am working on losing 20 lbs and trying to get my exercise up to 5-7 days per week. I'll have an appointment with the dietitian next month, and my psychological evaluation in March. I'm also waiting for the all clear on the insurance front, and have been told to be "very careful" in terms of not getting pregnant, because they (obviously!) will not do the surgery if I'm pregnant. The doc told me one story of a woman who was there on her surgery day, and had a pregnancy test come back positive...obviously, she wasn't able to have her surgery...so really strict NFP rules, here we come!

More quick takes at Jen's!

I may pay for this later

Since I have apparently figured out how to embed YouTube videos on here, I'll go ahead and post one that MM was on the fence about whether to post or not. Don't get me wrong: it's completely wholesome, but it references a part of pop culture that not everybody appreciates, to say the least.

But MM ain't here today! ;-) And, anyway, it really IS wholesome (and FUNNY!).

"And if you're Catholic, there's even mooore." ROTFL

Matt Maher

Back in September, MM and I saw Matt Maher on EWTN's "Life on the Rock," and he made such an impression on me that I immediately asked for the new album he was promoting for the birthday I had coming up in October. I've really enjoyed it since then, and am a little amazed at the niche he-a very devout Catholic-has carved out in the overwhelmingly Protestant Christian music industry.

Anyway, now that we can actually watch streaming videos on our computer, I thought I'd post an overview of Maher's most recent album from the record label. *crossing my fingers this works!*

Would it be insensitive to say...

that I, on the other hand, am having a pretty good day? At the very least, it kind of reminds me of the old statistic about how getting married massively extends the lifespan of the average man, but somewhat shortens the lifespan of the average woman. At least, I think that's what the old statistic says... I'm a little bit fuzzy on it, now.

To be fair, I just talked to MM on the phone, and she seems to be having a better day. She made my mom listen to Dave Ramsey with her, which I find fairly funny. Still pretty hectic, but better. Hopefully the girls (and my sister and mother) will behave relatively well at the lecture they are attending tonight. Otherwise, the final good/bad tally for the day may be in some question.

I have to say I am enjoying the first uninterrupted and unscheduled time I've had to marvel at our new 256K internet connection. I'm affraid I've misplaced a lot of blame for computer headaches the last couple of years with our PC itself, when it mostly had to do with us just being too cheap to upgrade (admittedly, MM's dad's gift to us of more RAM not too long ago helped a lot, too).

Sadly, though, I can only torment my friends on Facebook so much without getting pretty bored. Same thing goes with watching the tube. So, I have to say that I'm missing MM and the girls pretty badly. A little peace and quiet is nice once in a while, but the chaos is what gives my life purpose, I guess.

Correction: I have since been informed that we actually now have 512K, not 256. As you can see, I was thoroughly involved in the research and planning of this switch. ;-)

Not having a good day...

I couldn't get dressed this morning because I needed to wash and dry a load of laundry (I needed underwear...)

While trying to put some podcasts on our IPod for our last minute whirlwind trip to see Matthew Kelly speak (plus go to a bunch of doctors appointments on Tuesday) it turns out our IPod is corrupted.

Hubby and I thought he was supposed to go back to work at 12:30, but found out that he is actually supposed to be back at noon (we found this out at 11:25 when I was defrosting hamburger for today's lunch...)

AND, I caught one of my oven mitts on fire while cooking...

Hopefully the rest of the day goes better!

Quick Takes Friday- High Speed Edition

1-

I have doubled my productivity since getting our DSL equipment installed yesterday...okay, maybe not PRODUCTIVITY...but at least all of my time wasting on the Internet takes less time now!

2-

I'm much more excited about podcasts now that I was before. We used to download a podcast called "Pray as you go" by the Jesuits, but each week we'd have to leave our dial up connected all night long to get five podcasts for the week, and I doubt that any of them are longer than 10 minutes. I downloaded next week's podcasts yesterday, and it took me a whopping 10-15 minutes to download them all...Even the slowest DSL is amazingly fast for me!

3-

Charlotte is sick again...I'm supposed to take her back into the doc next week to check on her ears...at the last appointment he said that she either was just getting over an ear infection, or just getting one. We didn't do antibiotics since there was a good chance she was getting over one, but now her fever and cough are back (after almost 2 weeks of very few problems). Poor kid!

4-

Yesterday we got done with school before 10:30 am, which is a record as of late...basically, I've been doing well if we start school before nap time. Hopefully today I will follow the same plan and get school done before lunch...then, of course, I have another week of school to plan out.

5-

Besides the faster Internet connection getting me going faster in the morning (I'm sure I'm not the only one that says "just ONE more blog, THEN I'll get ready..." more than once a morning!) I took Danielle Bean's advice about night showering...I never thought it would work for me, with my horrible curly hair, but I've done it twice now (which is more than I usually do in a year...I only have showered at night before if I had to spend the evening around smokers...) and have found that if I braid my hair after my shower and sleep on the braid, my hair actually looks pretty good (for my hair anyway!)

6-

Eva has recently started to get things off the top of the TV cabinet (I can only assume that she stands on a basket and stretches to reach things) and out of child proofed cabinets (to get things for her sister, of course). Not that I am surprised that she CAN do these things, it just is a little strange that this is the first she HAS done these things...I've had to remind her that when I put toys in a child proofed cabinet, that means that I want to control access to it...the dumb "Froggy book" (LeapPad) that she got out is now confiscated and in my room because the girls were driving me nuts with fighting over it.

7-

Speaking of the LeapPad book...don't you HATE it when well meaning people get your kids toys that are way too old for them? The LeapPad would have been an awesome gift for Eva this year, but she actually got it from my parents when she was 2...not a good age for that sort of thing. Of course, this is not limited to my side of the family...one time the girls went shopping with hubby's parents, and somehow my FIL ended up taking them to pick out toys (because, to grandparents, every time you go shopping is a time for a new toy!) and Charlotte got a Dora doll that said ages 3+ (which was fine, because I do supervise my kids with toys...she might have still been under a year, but at least was significantly under 2), and Eva got a kids ATM that said ages 7+...eventually, we had to smash the dumb thing to get her money out because the stupid thing was too complicated for us once the instruction booklet got lost (sorry MIL, it had to be done!) A few times Eva has asked about it, and we had to give her some story about giving it away (well, the trash guys COULD have taken it out of the trash, how would I know?)

More quick takes over at Jen's, as usual!