Quick Takes Friday

1-
Well, our house is officially in the local paper and on our realtor's website. We still haven't had any showings since we officially listed it. I am getting pretty tired of having the house super clean at all times. Having to be so neat all the time makes cooking meals and homeschooling more difficult.

2-
Hubby has no more than 12 more days of work left. Only 16 days total until he is done there, and then we'll start a strange month of traveling back and forth to the farm while still living here.

3-
We had the girl's portraits taken on Wednesday, which being a federal holiday we deemed "home school picture day." So today's pictures come from that (we bought the CD so that we could share them so, we own the copyright to all of these.)

4-
My bible study group met last night, we had a very good discussion about improving our spiritual lives, and one of the ladies told us that one thing that she has started doing is reading the daily readings on her computer before getting on Facebook in the morning. I thought that was a great idea, so we set our homepage to EWTN, and this morning (in my normal morning stupor) I remembered to read the daily readings, plus at EWTN, they have a Saint's quote for each day as well.

5-
Charlotte turns 3 tomorrow! I can't believe she is getting so big. I've been trying to get a bunch of pictures ordered for printing, and it's been a while since my last batch, so I have two years worth of pictures of the girls...it's amazing to see how much they've grown from last Halloween to this Halloween, or from last year's portraits to this year's portraits.

6-
We are all recovering from being sick...finally! This weekend Charlotte spiked a fever (103) and so I took her into the doctor on Monday. I decided to make sure to see our normal doctor, since we'd already taken Charlotte in twice to one of the other doctors. Turns out that she had a double ear infection. So, in the past few weeks, I've had antibiotics for a sinus infection, Eva for pneumonia, and Charlotte for ear infections. I am looking forward to us all being done with medicine and better overall.

7-
Speaking of the weekend...we managed to pull off that 50th birthday party for MIL. She even enjoyed the party...we had a great turnout, particularly considering that we started inviting people Friday morning, and the party was Saturday evening. After the big cake and ice cream reception, we got Chinese food and did a smaller family thing (of course, the smaller family thing still involved 13 people...but really, that's pretty small for hubby's family!) Really, it was a great party...everything went smoothly, and there wasn't a lot of pressure on us to make it great because it was so last minute. Hubby's sister ordered a cake at Walmart, bought a table cloth, Premium M & Ms, nuts, candles, plates, cups, napkins, and a pop up decorative card. Hubby's aunt booked the room, ordered the gift (at least a month ago), wrapped it, got a card for us all to sign. SIL brought over serving utensils and serving bowls, then hosted Chinese food at their house. We made a batch of iced tea, bought a gallon of ice cream, and brought plastic utensils. That was it...I'd definitely plan a party that way again.

More quick takes at Conversion Dairy!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Well, our house is now officially listed. We had our first showing yesterday, and I guess the guy thought the house was nice, but didn't like it being so close to the railroad tracks. Now, our town is pretty dinky, and I don't really think there is ANY place IN TOWN where you will not at least hear the trains as they go through...we at least get to see them. We've been praying to St. Joseph to intercede for us for a quick and relatively painless sale of our house. The good news is that our agent thought it could sell for more than we paid for it four years ago (of course, we bought it unfinished, and put quite a bit of money into finishing the house), the bad news is that we're listing it at $14,000 less than it appraised for four years ago. Bummer.

2-
We've finished with most of the little projects around the house. Hubby still is cleaning out the crawl space a little bit, and wants to put up a few pieces of trim in the kitchen. But we are now at the hard part...living in, staying home all day in, and homeschooling in a house that is within a couple of minutes of clean every day.

3-
Hubby has no more than 19 more days of work. His last day will be the 30th of this month, so 24 days total.

4-
The girls had a fun time trick or treating on Halloween...we started at Grandma's house, and went around to most of hubby's aunts and uncles out in the country. We even trick or treated at the house we will be living in next year, and got a tour. So, now I actually know the layout of the whole house (I had only ever been in the living room, kitchen and mudroom of the house before). The aunt and uncle living in the house now are going to be moving into town, but are waiting on their son-in-law to come do some tile work (he's a contractor) and he keeps delaying when he will be able to do it...so who knows if they will be out by the time hubby has to start work up there on January 1st!

5-
Eva is still coughing a lot, even after a full run of antibiotics, so we probably need to take her back to the doctor...we just aren't sure when to do it! Honestly, I am so sick of being at the clinic now that it's not even funny. We were just there with Charlotte, because we thought she might have a urinary tract infection...turns out she is fine physically, but the doc thinks that the stress of our upcoming move might be the problem causing her to have accidents frequently, so besides more laundry and the use of pull ups sometimes, there's not much we can do.

6-
I taught Charlotte's coop preschool class this week, which was exhausting. Note to self...I do not EVER want to be a preschool teacher or daycare provider. We made pumpkin bread, did a porcupine glue craft, learned about the number 2, read a story about a raccoon, and made raccoon masks. I think the kids all had fun, but it was just draining...probably in part because while the preschoolers were working on their crafts, I was working with Eva on some of her school stuff, so she did her handwriting, part of religion, phonics and part of her math during the coop preschool time. She got to help make pumpkin bread, listen to the story and do free play with the other kids.

7-
MIL's birthday is next week, and it looks like she'll be in the tractor driving grain cart for dry corn harvest on her birthday, so the other night while she was at church, my FIL called me TWICE to make sure we were planning something for MILs birthday. We all went in on a gift for her (which I can't state here, in case she reads this before we celebrate!) and he wanted to make sure she had something since it is her 50th birthday. So, we've been going back and forth plotting on facebook, but we have about four indecisive people trying to make last minute plans, so it's a little bit slow going. I have a feeling that hubby and I will be making a bunch of phone calls tonight...that is, once we have a confirmed place for the shindig...we will have a cake, that much I know already. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get this all pulled together by tomorrow!

More quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes

1-
Happy (almost) Halloween! Our town had it's trick or treat street last night because the school has some sort of day off today. I normally find the fact that everything has to revolve around the school in all these little towns annoying, but since we basically have a blizzard today, I guess it was probably a good thing that the girls got out (in the snow) to trick or treat! This picture is of them before going to the library for story time, Eva is dressed as Mulan and Charlotte is (clearly) Snow White. You can't really tell in the picture, but we sprayed both girl's hair black with temporary hair dye. NOT a plan I'm going to do again, as it took about 4 hair washings to get it out and it got all over their clothes and faces because of the snow while trick or treating.

2-
Hubby just left for work. He wasn't sure if he would be going in at all today, because the roads are closed. The truck never made it to Denver last night, and even if it had, the roads out here are closed, so they'll get a double dose of mail tomorrow (just the thing everyone wants on a Saturday!) On the plus side, the last time the mail couldn't get out here was a couple of years ago, right before Christmas. Hubby ended up volunteering to deliver packages on Christmas Eve that year.

3-
My parents had come up with the idea that we should go on a trip as a family for Christmas, since this is the first time hubby won't be working at Christmas (the p.o. doesn't like to give people time off between Thanksgiving and Christmas, for some reason!) Originally, the plan was going to be driving somewhere. We suggested Santa Fe, NM or Branson, MO (both under 12 hours of driving...about all I think I could handle!) somehow, by the end of it, my parents booked airfare to Hawaii for a week. We will be staying at Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu. I'm excited about the trip, but also a little stressed out with all the little stuff I need to deal with. Eva is very excited about her first plane trip, and her first trip to a beach. Charlotte doesn't really get it yet, I don't think.

4-
Speaking of my parents...my dad just had his 61st (I think) birthday this week. His school also had a snow day on his birthday, and I am pretty sure they are still having a snow day today. So, he's having a good time not going to work. My mom is still on fall break from her school. Personally, I am about ready for them to go back to school, because they are having WAY too much time available for worrying about trip details, and I don't have the time right now to deal with their worries. Like yesterday, I am running out the door to get the girls to story time, and my dad calls to tell me he is e-mailing me an article (he needed our e-mail address again) and he's still talking to me as I am driving away from the house, telling me that my mom suggested that we get state IDs for the girls. Personally, I think it would be a waste of my time (and money) to get IDs for the girls, but my parents are worried that we might be delayed in security if our girls names match the name of someone on the terrorist watch list. I think that is very, very, VERY unlikely! So, anyone fly with kids frequently (or ever)? Anyone ever been delayed because TSA kept their kids back to check on them?

5-
Our goal to have the house ready to list by November 1st seems to be right on target. Other than A LOT of cleaning that I need to do (I have a ton of black hair dyed clothes to wash, and have a lot of floors to clean, not to mention some clutter and half a dozen cold medicines to put away) hubby has come pretty close to finishing the repairs. We have a new kitchen faucet, the wall is built in our basement/crawlspace, and he has the primer and paint in the house for touching up the wall where we had patch some cracks. We still had hoped to paint the doors (not happening in the blizzard), replace some weather stripping, and hubby wants to put a sweep on an interior door (which could probably get done tonight.) The hard part once the house is listed will be keeping everything clean and tidy all the time...it's just not in my nature!

6-
I'm pretty sure I've whined on the blog about us all being sick...but this week I finally sucked it up, and took myself and the girls to the clinic. Well, it turns out that Charlotte just had a cold, Eva had a slight case on pneumonia, and I had a sinus infection. Eva's on day 4 of Zythromax (my favorite antibiotic...gotta love the five day total thing!) and seems to be doing better, I guess. She never really slowed down, but her appetite is back up to normal. I'm doing better, too...still on antibiotics for a while, but I was also given a sinus rinse thing to use...I guess it's kinda like a neti pot. Basically, you squirt water up one nostril while bent over with your head tilted, and it rinses gunk out of your sinuses, I guess. It's pretty gross, but works pretty well. I'm thinking I might get one for hubby, as he ALWAYS has sinus problems.

7-
Well, I fully intend to enjoy my blizzard today by staying in my PJs and sipping hot tea all day long. Of course, I still have to carve pumpkins with the girls (I meant to get it done yesterday, but with all the running around a black spray on hair color, it just didn't happen!) and do a bunch of laundry, but there's something so satisfying about spending a cold day at home in jammies with a warm beverage, isn't there?

More quick takes at Conversion Dairy!

No, I haven't completely given up blogging...

I have just been extremely busy! I've been contemplating several ideas for future posts, though. Just to let you know that I'm still alive, here are some possible coming attractions. Please let me know what you think of any one(s) of them, or feel free to suggest anything else! "Discuss amongst yourselves." Hope to get back at it soon.
Post ideas:
1. "Show me your friends, and I'll show you your future."
2. State Department report on religious freedom around the world
3. Has the Republican Party lost its collective mind??
4. Upcoming Hawaii trip
5. Getting the house ready to list for sale (which is why I haven't had time to blog)
6. your brilliant suggestion!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Hubby had his 32nd birthday this week. He also had to carry mail on his birthday, and my aunt and uncle came into town for a visit, so my surprise for him was limited to making a carrot cake in the morning, and having it on the table when he walked in the door for his 30 minute lunch break. Because I got started on the cake later than I should have, it wasn't completely cool when hubby called to give me a 20 minute warning, so the frosting looked really bad (lots of crumbs). So, for the second year running, I pulled out some Halloween themed sprinkles to cover up the bad looking frosting. I chose grey and black headstones with purple sprinkles. It looks like next year, I need to make a cake with a non-white frosting so that I can use that last section of the can, white ghosts. My aunt thought that it was mean of me to put headstones on his cake before he turns 50. It's really not MY fault that his birthday is so conveniently close to Halloween!

2-
My aunt that was visiting is my mom's sister. It is kind of funny how much they are alike in many ways, since they have lived on opposite sides of the country for their adult lives (my parents have been in Colorado for over 30 years, and my aunt and uncle have lived in Ohio their entire lives.) There are also a lot of differences, but mostly due to the fact that my aunt is very religious (my uncle is a retired Methodist pastor) and my mom is not very religious at all. It makes a big difference in life.

3-
We seem to be passing a cold back and forth in our family, and back and forth with my in-laws as well. I was feeling pretty awful on Saturday and Sunday, but have been getting better all week (I still have a hacking cough) but Charlotte seems to be the one down with it now...she was really hacking all day yesterday, and seems to be a little tired and cranky. It is always hard to tell when that kid is sick though, because she never stops, and nothing really slows her down (for instance, when she broke her arm, she didn't really seem too hurt, but hubby noticed that she was favoring the other arm.)

4-
38 more days until hubby is unemployed. I'm getting a little excited, and a little nervous. Of course, that means that we only have eight days left before our target date to list the house. Not completely sure we'll meet our goal, but we are getting closer. I have the bathroom, the girls room and our bedroom all ready to stage (I know what needs to go away in each room before showings) I'm getting closer on the living room/dining room and kitchen...I have a long way to go yet on the laundry room. I haven't started the outdoor staging.

5-
It's been snowing the last two days...yuck! I'm glad that hubby took the time on Sunday and Monday to finish up the outdoor painting...other than the doors, which we haven't totally decided what to do with yet. We are thinking of painting them a slate gray color, but I guess we'd have to have some good weather to get that done!

6-
Because of the snow, school was cancelled in all of the little towns around here yesterday. Because the schools were canceled, so was story time at the library, which bummed Eva out a little bit. But, since Charlotte has been coughing so much, she's not going to her coop preschool class this morning, which is a bummer, because they will be doing something with orange paint...and I don't do very many painting activities (too much cleanup!) with the girls here.

7-
Speaking of school...my mom and my dad are both school teachers, my aunt and my uncle are both former school teachers. My grandma worked in the library at a school...I'm guessing there are educators further back in my family, too. One of my mom's not so great traits that my aunt shares is a strong bewilderment and disapproval of my homeschooling. Not to say that they MEAN to be disapproving, but they both think it is a phase I am going through, and while both my aunt and my mom bring me curriculum stuff when they visit, they just can't help themselves to open up their mouths (sometimes right in front of Eva) and state their opinions that I must be nuts to home school, and that living in a rural community that is relatively free of crime, I have no real reason I could possibly WANT to home school. Of course, then later in the conversations it will turn to many good reasons to avoid institutional schools, such as a college that has taken a dorm that was not in use and turned it into a sort of quarantine dorm for students with the swine flu...

Well, I guess I might need to go check on my little coughing girls! More quick takes (as always) at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
Okay, I know I say this just about every other Quick Takes, but YEAH for PAYDAY!!! I still haven't taken back over the budgeting, and I think that the low dollar amounts in just about every account were making hubby twitch. He's going to take us girls out for lunch today to celebrate, and I already have dinner cooking in the crock pot. I am liking my meal preparation today!

2-
I'm trying to get into some sort of cleaning routine so that when we put the house up for sale (our current goal date is November 1st) we have a system to keep the house mostly clean. I am not a particularly neat person. In fact, I used to be a slob..unlike hubby who used to be a neat freak. In college, I used to go into his dorm room and throw his laundry all over his floor (it was always neatly piled in a laundry basket) because his room was unnaturally clean. Now, I would say we are a balance of the two. Mostly clean, but there's always a couple of things that probably should be cleaner or neater. Not the best cleaning philosophy for selling a house. So, as of now, in the mornings (right after getting the girl's breakfast) I put away their clothes, make their beds, make my bed, unload the dinner dishes from the dishwasher, and start reloading with anything left over and breakfast dishes. At lunch time, I will continue loading the dishwasher, and run it if it is mostly full. Then, at dinner, I am unloading the dishwasher (if necessary) cooking, eating, praying, reloading the dishwasher, running it, starting a load of laundry while the girls and hubby pick up toys, wipe off table and get into jammies. After the girl's bedtime, the laundry gets dried, folded, and put away, except for their clothes, which go into a basket until the morning. I still need to work the floors and counter tops into the deal. Not to mention continue packing items we won't need for a while.

3-
On the cleaning front, for Eva's home economics this week I had originally planned to follow the lessons in the order of her book, which would have had her learning how to cook with eggs this week and use the stove next week. I thought about teaching a kid to cook while trying to keep the house in excellent shape for showings, and decided to skip the rest of the cooking (and all of the baking) until we are in the new house. So, I skipped ahead to the cleaning section, and taught Eva how to vacuum. Charlotte wanted to learn, too, so I gave her the dust buster and had her vacuum underneath the couch cushions. I think having Eva able to run the vacuum will be helpful to last minute cleaning sessions.

4-
Eva is currently taking a ballet class twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. This Monday was a federal holiday, so hubby was able to come with me to take her to class (Charlotte had spent the night at grandma's house) so we watched from the second floor. She is so serious about her class, you can just see the concentration on her face, but at the end of class, they were learning a step (a little bit like a grapevine) and Eva was just not getting it (she kept putting one foot behind the other and stepping back more and more with that foot turning herself in a circle) so after class, hubby decided to try to show her how to do the step...I thought it was pretty hilarious, particularly since hubby was showing her how to do ballet moves in the middle of the community center while people were picking up their kids.

5-
Some other moms in town and I have started a cooperative preschool class once a week, and Charlotte had her first week. She had a lot of fun, and was not at all sad about us leaving her there (I'll be teaching at our house the first week in November). She is the youngest of the group, but appears to have held her own. It's funny, she is the only one of the four kids that isn't the oldest...so she has prior experience with things like cutting with scissors, where the others, being the oldest and 3 or 4 years old, really haven't done any cutting at home. She has her own pencil box and notebook to take to class and bring home, and she just loves them.

6-
Today is the feast of St. Gerard Majella, Eva's patron saint. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Eva's baptism. So, tonight I am going to get out Eva's baptismal candle to light during dinner...maybe I'll make dessert, too.

7-
That dessert will have to be made of apples, I think...since I have a large bowl full from MIL on the counter. I also have all of the carrots and beets that hubby pulled out of the garden when the ground softened up enough. I need to figure out how to cook the beets (we only got two large and two small total), and figure out what to do with the carrots...I am thinking that I may slice them up and blanch and freeze them. I just have to figure out how I am supposed to do that!

More quick takes this week at Conversion Diary!

No Quick Takes...

Well, Jen at Conversion Dairy PUT AWAY her computer for a full WEEK...so there are no official quick takes this week, but I thought I'd pop in with a few thoughts.

Hubby is a morning person and I am NOT...so it is not unusual for hubby to tell me something when he leaves in the morning, but he usually knows better than to make me guess something before 7 in the morning (actually, before noon its probably not a good idea). This morning he bounded in the room to say goodbye (its just not natural to be that cheerful at that hour of the day...) and said "Guess who won the nobel peace prize?" I mumbled, "someone stupid, no doubt" (otherwise why would he be bothering me) I have to admit, I found it a little surprising that President Obama was the recipient. Not that I should have been, after the whole Al Gore thing several years ago. I had a good chuckle at Simcha's post this morning.

I've started some packing. It's hard to figure out what to pack (other than most of our books, which are already packed and waiting in the garage to be moved) and what I will need in the next 2 1/2 months. My mom really wants us to get our house on the market as soon as possible. Hubby the perfectionist doesn't want it listed until everything is perfect. We've been having some disagreements about how to handle the selling of the house. I do think that my mom had a good point about the $8000 first time homebuyer tax credit which actually expires on December 1st.

Hubby has been hard at work trying to make the house closer to perfect. Yesterday he installed a new bathroom faucet, and earlier in the week he had done some patching, filling, caulking jobs that needed to be done. I haven't been that on top of things, but I guess I need to get moving.

Eva started Ballet classes this week. She seems to be enjoying them, but I have to admit that running around at the same time as all the school moms are running kids to activities after school is not very much fun. Lots of traffic and people around.

Charlotte will start her coop preschool next week. We had our planning meeting this week, and I don't have to be the teacher until the first week of November. I put together most of her pencil box (I still need to buy her some new crayons) and she was very excited carrying it around the house. She's so goofy about things...she says "Holy Moly" about almost anything she finds exciting or unusual. So, she said "My pencil box?? Holy Moly!" when I showed it to her.

Quick Takes Friday

1- Life seems to be getting very busy for us...and to think that all summer I kept thinking "I can't wait for fall! Things will finally slow down then!" Yeah...not so much. Starting next week, Eva has ballet class twice a week, Charlotte has coop preschool once a week (although next week is a planning meeting, not class) and Eva has story time once a week. Add in my Bible Study, Knights of Columbus activities, doctor's appointments, birthdays and out of town relatives stopping by for a day, and we have a very full October calendar (and of course, trick or treating with the girls!)

2- In the past week, hubby and I finally looked into the buyout thing being offered by his employer. We had originally thought it probably wouldn't be worth it, because the amount you get is based upon the hours you work, and hubby is part-time. BUT, when we looked at the numbers, it turns out that he worked just over 10 hours more during the time frame than the minimum to get the full amount. Plus, we figured out that we would have a month worth of free health care under the plan, and the option to continue coverage if we needed to, for up to 18 months. After hubby talked to his dad about whether he would be able to give hubby a start date of January 1st, we decided to go ahead and do the program. Hubby told his boss yesterday, and is just waiting to hear back on a couple of questions before he mails in his resignation form. SO, he will be unemployed for about a month between the date he has to leave his current job by and the date when the farm is all split up. Kinda scary!

3- We drove up to Sidney, NE on Wednesday, mostly because I found out there is a Salvation Army store there, and we were cleaning out our garage (which has been a pit of despair since we bought the house, and it came full of junk...) so we took up a large load of stuff, then stopped by the Cabela's store before coming home (to look at the fish and animals). We ended up buying some vanilla and nuts...when we put it into Quicken and typed in Cabela's...it brought up the purchase of our entertainment center, which we bought before Eva was born...at a different Cabela's. One brother of the guy who founded Cabela's opened a furniture store in Chappell, NE...it is FAR less famous...but we thought it was pretty funny that although the name Cabela's was already in Quicken, it wasn't THE Cabela's that everyone knows about...I know, I'm a dork!

4- School is going well with Eva. We've started to split the day in half. In the morning we start with reading, then do religion and handwriting (and sometimes phonics, if we have a lot in the second half of class) then in the afternoon, we do Phonics (if not done already), Math, Spanish and an Elective. Right now, we are doing Art on Day 1, Home Economics on Day 2, Music on Day 3, and Science on Day 4. Eva made a very nice carrot tray in home ec yesterday, she peeled the carrots independently, and then I helped her use a garnisher to cut them up (she doesn't really have the coordination yet that I trust her not to cut herself...but that will come with time and practice, I guess!) We made a little dip, and made a fan pattern with the carrots to serve with dinner.

5- I've been being nosy using the computer this week. I've checked out the websites of both Realtors in town to see what they have listed, and how the houses are priced. I have seen what not to do when the realtor comes to take pictures. Note to self...clean up EVERYTHING, and take pictures YOURSELF! Also, one of the Realtors in town either can't spell or can't type...I'm leaning towards the can't spell, because she seems to be able to create Internet slide shows, so I would think she could type!

6- At story time yesterday, we got there a few minutes early, so Eva got to see some of her friends that are in the earlier group. She went up to hug one of them, and they were chatting away. Her little friend was telling us that she just went on vacation and got to stay in a hotel and go shopping, and swim in the hotel pool. I asked her where she went, and she told me a hotel. Then Eva stated in a very serious voice "What COUNTRY did you go to?" and her little friend answered, equally seriously "Denver!" I had a good laugh with her mom. They had gone up to Denver to pick up the little girl's aunt at the airport, and decided to make a mini vacation out of it. I never would have thought to ask her what country she went to, but that's exactly how I found out where they went.

7- We borrowed the movie "Tarzan" from the library, and had a family movie night last night...much cuter movie than I had expected! I was impressed (of course, it was the Disney Tarzan...I liked the goofy elephant.) Charlotte kept swinging from couch to couch and pretending she was a monkey all through the movie. Little goofball!

More quick takes over at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes Friday

It has seemed like a rather LONG week, but then again, I can't believe it is Friday today...the paradox of adulthood...

1-
This week we stayed home. VERY unusual for us...usually I can count on us visiting my in-laws at least once in a week, but after we spent last Thursday with them, we decided to stay home on Sunday, and they ended up coming down here on Tuesday to celebrate new SILs 22nd birthday, so we didn't even have to travel.

2-
This weekend we are not staying home...on Saturday afternoon we are planning on taking the girls to stay with grandma overnight. Hubby and I have been hoping to have a movie date all week because...well, hubby loves to sit in a movie theatre, and I would like to see the movie Julie and Julia. It was playing last weekend in MILs town, and this weekend in ours...the schedule worked out best for us to see it here and the girls to spend the night with grandma. Then, on Sunday we are going to go shopping in a town about 1 1/2 hours away after church, then DH has a Knights of Columbus district meeting in a town 1/2 hour away from the shopping town, then we will go home by way of MILs house (which really isn't on the way at all, but I guess we should pick up the kids).

3-
Story time at the library started for Eva this week. She enjoyed it as much as ever. Unfortunately most of my friends kiddos are in the earlier story time group, and Eva is in the later...so I get to hang out at the library with a bunch of moms that I have very little in common with. Fortunately, I can spend some of the time wandering around if hubby is off work and comes too...if it's just me, I'll be sort of trapped into hearing all of their conversations because they all sit in the kids play area with their little ones, and of course, Charlotte is too young for story time (I did point out the irony that if Charlotte had been premature, she would be old enough to be in story time to one of the librarians...dumb age rules...)

4-
I finally am getting back to menu planning after a LONG time off...it just seemed like too much work to plan out a menu, but honestly, this week with a menu plan has gone VERY smoothly. We have moved things around and skipped a few meals that were planned out, but being able to look down and see what our meals are supposed to be today and tomorrow is so nice, and not doing the last minute "what do you want for dinner" thing at pretty much every meal is much less stressful than having to ask the question as soon as I have finished making each meal...

5-
Hubby changed the heading picture of the blog last night...with a picture he took last night while I was off at Bible study. Eva, being the goofy kid she is said that instead of "cheese" she should say "Hail Mary!" since they were getting ready to pray.

6-
About two weeks ago, I went through all of the girls clothes, and at the time I asked hubby if I should just pull out their shorts and tank tops and put in their winter clothes, and he thought I should put in their winter clothes but also leave in their summer stuff. Well, this week it has RAINED and RAINED and RAINED...so, naturally, Eva came out in a long sleeve shirt and pajama shorts the other day to go outside. I should have just put away all the shorts while I was feeling ambitious, because I sure am not feeling ambitious this week.

7-
WE HAVE HARDWARE!!! Our kitchen cabinets have been an ongoing project since we bought this house (in November 2005). We could afford the house because it was unfinished...of course, we don't really have the skills to finish much of anything...but apparently we have the capability for living a very long time with things unfinished. There were almost no doors when we moved in...and we hired some guys to make doors to finish the kitchen and laundry room (we have 31 cabinets with doors and 15 drawers...I think there were 7 doors with hardware on them when we moved in) but to save money, we didn't have them stain or install them...so the unfinished cabinets sat in the garage for quite a while. Then hubby came up with a system, and eventually we had doors and drawers everywhere. Well, then we lived with some doors and drawers having hardware, and some not. When I had my Bible study group pretend they were home buyers to see what our priority projects should be, they all agreed that the lack of pulls on some, but not all of the cabinets was a big eyesore. So, this weekend, hubby drilled and I helped put on drawer pulls and cabinet handles. They look sooo much better now, it makes me wonder why we waited this long to do them.

That's it for me this week, but there are more quick takes over at Conversion Diary!

"Because I Said So"

Anyone who, like me, had a parent who would sometimes respond to questions about a particular decision with the phrase "Because I said so" probably grew up with at least a little frustration toward that assertion of authority. Also like me, probably most of those people have gone on to use the same phrase with their own children!

The thing is, it's just a lot easier to say, "Because I said so" in the middle of the action of our daily life than to enunciate what we really mean when we say it. More or less, I think most of us really mean: "Because I have a plan and, even though I don't have time to tell you all the details and considerations that went into developing this plan, rest assured that I have your best interest at heart and will do all I can to see that you aren't hurt because I love you. You're just going to have to trust me." Kind of a mouthful, isn't it? You can see why we use the shorthand of "Because I said so!"

All this has come to mind in the days following this Sunday's Mass and, particularly, Father's homily on this week's Gospel reading, in which Jesus tells his disciples, “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” Father primarily focused on the humility it takes to do as Jesus says, citing first the phrase "Thy will be done" in The Lord's Prayer, but then referring to the procedure the Vatican follows when approving Marian apparitions.

"What is the first test the Church uses to see whether an apparition may be 'of God,'" Father asked us. Several responded with some variation of, "By its fruits." When told that this wasn't what he was looking for and asked again, "By its fruits" was still pretty much the only answer offered by anyone in the congregation on the second (or even third!) try. The correct answer, apparently codified in new rules by the Vatican earlier this year, is "Whether or not the visionaries are obedient to the Church's request to remain silent about the apparition until further investigation has taken place."

I don't know about anyone else in the parish, but this was really food for thought for me. The first thing I thought of was Međugorje, and my vague recollection from earlier this summer that a priest at the center of this so-far unapproved apparition had been laicised. Looking up the story to refresh my memory, it turns out that, besides the flashy-headline-charge of inappropriate relations with a nun, Fr. Vlasic was also accused of "dubious doctrine, the manipulation of consciences, suspect mysticism and disobedience towards legitimately issued orders." Disobedience... maybe Father was onto something.

Not long after, I thought of Christ's command to Peter, James and John right after the Transfiguration "not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead." It was only while preparing this post that I really noticed that the Gospel passage referred to in Father's homily also begins with a desire by Jesus for secrecy ("Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it") and that this passage is only 21 verses further into the same chapter of Mark than the story of the Transfiguration. Interesting: I know that I and others I've talked to have often wondered why Jesus asked everyone to "keep it on the down-low." So what was Christ's explanation to His disciples for these instructions?

As far as I can tell, He never really offered one. It may not have been too much different, in some respects, from the Church's explanation for its policy of skepticism-first toward Marian apparitions - maybe best enunciated (in my limited experience) by Fr. Jean Honoré, Archbishop of Tours, in "The Tide of Vain Credulity: the Church's Role in Apparitions." But in both cases, the most likely answer is ultimately, "Because I said so," which, as I said earlier, is shorthand for "I love you... and you're just going to have to trust me."

Quick Takes Friday

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Why is it that every Thursday I have a mental list of things to do for quick takes, but by Friday morning, I've always forgotten ALL of them???

2-
We've had our new car for a week now, and are adjusting pretty well so far to one car living. I did, however, almost manage to bounce the $15,000+ check this week, because I put a cash deposit into our checking account twice (once I put it in as a transfer, and then I just put in the total from my bank trip involving 3 different checks plus the cash, forgetting that I had already put the cash in Quicken...I am SUCH an idiot!)

3-
I'm not sure if I ever posted about the girl's Halloween costumes...probably not, because it got pushed aside by the car fiasco last week...while we were up in the city for appointments, I made a stop at a thrift store to look for some long sleeved shirts, dresses and PJs for the girls...when I walked in they had a HUGE selection of Halloween costumes, so I called MIL and the girls and made them come in. Charlotte declared that she wanted to be snow white, and amazingly enough, we found a snow white costume IN HER SIZE for about $8 (I saw the same costume with a couple of accessories at Sam's Club for almost $30 later that day...and just saw it at Walmart for $20), and Eva picked out a pink velvet princess dress (Renaissance style) but said that it looked like Mulan, so we are working out a Mulan costume for her out of it. Yesterday, we got a couple of bottles of black temporary hair dye...since they both want to be characters with black hair, it sounded like fun, and a makeup kit to do the white face for Mulan, etc. Eva didn't want any of it, until I mentioned that it all washed off...then it was okay. Is it weird that my kid seems to think I would be willing to dye her hair permanently black for a Halloween costume???

4-
The whole one car thing is going to get much more complicated in October...Eva will have ballet lessons on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, Charlotte will have a coop preschool on Wednesday mornings, and Thursday afternoons Eva will have storytime at the library. The good news is that everything but the coop (which I think will move from house to house) is very walkable, if the weather is good...we'll just have to see how the weather cooperates!

5-
We are getting closer to having hardware on all my kitchen cabinets...at least, we have enough of it purchased. Hubby got 6 drawers drilled and installed this past weekend, and I am hoping that we can finish it all this weekend. My contribution was removing hardware from the cabinets in the laundry room and from the drawers that already had pulls, because we ended up finding a cheaper coordinating pull to put up in the laundry room and on the drawers in the kitchen. I think it will look very nice when all is said and done. Of course, it is another one of those projects that would probably not be done for a very long time if the whole selling this house thing wasn't on the table again.

6-
Can I tell you how very sick of explaining that we are homeschooling I am??? Eva is now old enough that the first question anyone asks her is if she is in preschool now. EVEN with people who I have told numerous times we are homeschooling. Then there's the whole shocked look I get when people do ask me how homeschooling is going when I tell them we are on a short break right now. I know that the public schools just started up, but WHY ON EARTH would I use the public school calendar??? I have no kids in the schools, no one in our house works for the schools...why would I care what they are doing???

7-
I went to a deanery meeting for Altar and Rosary society yesterday. For those of you lucky enough not to be familiar with this, Altar and Rosary society is a women's group in the parish that theoretically pray the rosary and take care of the altar cloths...they have this theory that EVERY WOMAN in the parish is a member of Altar and Rosary because they are women...deanery is the meeting of all of the regional Altar and Rosary societies where they bring together the things they have been doing for distribution, have a program, a business meeting, a Mass and a lunch. For about the first half an hour, I started to think that maybe it wouldn't be that bad to be involved in Altar and Rosary stuff again (I had some REALLY bad experiences last time I was involved...LONG STORY) but then, during the business meeting the woman who was elected president of deanery (who orbits another planet, and is just WAY out there) asked a question, to which several of the women WOULD NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION, but instead turned it into a lecture on how exactly the letters should be sent out to invite the parishes to the deanery meeting (what should be on the letter, who should send the letter, criticism of the way she was doing everything) and they never got to the question she was asking. Now, these catty old ladies are only getting what they deserve for electing a space case as president...not to mention they elected my MIL to secretary (trust me, she is NOT the woman you want in charge of anything organizational...) Anyway, that ten minutes was enough to remind me why I never want to be a part of Altar and Rosary again (beyond the technically being a member because I am a woman...)

Okay, I guess that's it for me, but there are plenty more quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Quick Takes Friday - the new car edition

1- Well, the bad news came in Tuesday. The girls and I were up in the city for doctor's appointments with MIL when hubby got a call from our mechanic...there were metal shavings in the oil filter, which equals dead car. So, MIL and I stopped by one car dealership for a look at vehicles to see what the price ranges were.

2- Hubby decided on Tuesday night that he would take Thursday off work so that we could go buy a car. Of course, that meant we needed to come up with some amount of money for car buying.

3- Wednesday was spent calling MIL a billion times with questions and concerns...her talking to her credit union about cashing out her CD early, and me calling ours to find out if they could get the money in our account right away so that we could write a check on Thursday. Also, researching the inventory of about a dozen car dealers.

4- We took an extremely scenic route to the first car dealership we wanted to check out a vehicle out...and because of that detour, we rearranged our whole shopping plan. We test drove 3 different vehicles, a 2005 GMC Envoy XL, a 2006 Dodge Durango with third row seating, and a 2006 Ford Explorer with third row seating. Hubby really was rooting for the Ford before we test drove any of them. I was rooting for the Envoy. Hubby ended up liking the Ford the LEAST, the Dodge was in the middle, and the Envoy was his favorite. As for me, the Envoy was my favorite, but I probably would have put the Ford next, then the Durango. Obviously, since we agreed, we ended up purchasing the Envoy.

5- Buying the car took longer than I had anticipated (but with all the getting lost and running around, I wasn't all that surprised!) I had originally said "no way" to car shopping on Thursday, because my bible study group was meeting at our house at 6:30 pm...so when we finally got done at the dealer (about 3:45 pm) I called to tell people to let themselves in if I wasn't there, and to change the menu from stuffed peppers to stuffed crust pizza. I got home about 5 minutes before people started to show up, and was just lighting candles (the whole house reeked of onions from my prep work for the stuffed peppers) and opening blinds when everyone arrived. It all worked out okay in the end, though.

6- We had to say goodbye to our little red Saturn, which we traded in...and also to our blue Olds (that we had JUST UNDER one year...not making the list for best purchases ever...) which was picked up by the salvage yard (had we found a way to deliver it to them 90 miles away, they would have paid us $150 or $200)

7- Today has been all about car insurance quotes, since we only have 5 days to get our insurance updated or changed. So far Progressive Direct has the lowest quote, hands down. Still waiting to hear from our current agent (and not thrilled that he hasn't called yet) and hubby's family's agent (who was supposed to call sometime after 5:30...it's now 7:30 and we haven't gotten a call.) So, by Monday I hope to have all the quotes and a decision made!

Here's a picture of what our new car pretty much looks like, from Edmunds.com:


More quick takes at Conversion Diary!

Joy and Work

It's funny how God seems to send you little notes of encouragement when you most need them, if you open your eyes enough to see them.

As you may have guessed from some of the posts below, 1) we're having car problems right now and 2) we ain't exactly wealthy; as a result, we're going through a fair amount of angst right now, waiting to find out what exactly is wrong with our car and how we ought to deal with the problem of family locomotion in the near future. Between that and some physical (and impending fiscal) pain from a minor procedure I had this week, I've literally been sick to my stomach the last couple of days.

Fast forward to today, while I'm taking a little break from delivering mail, and I pick up a copy of Rolling Stone that turned out to be undeliverable. Years ago, I read this magazine pretty frequently, but neither my interests nor my sensibilities really line up with it anymore. However, the current issue features Stephen Colbert on the cover and, while I don't get to see his show very often because we don't get Comedy Central, I like a lot of what he represents - mostly based on Deacon Greg's fairly frequent mentions of him on his blog. What really got my attention was the description on the cover of Colbert as a "God-loving square." So, I got "ahold" of a copy and read the article. It turned out to be pretty extraordinary.

I already knew from Deacon Greg and a couple of other sources that Colbert is Catholic, but this article (in Rolling Stone of all places) illustrates just how important the faith is to him, and how unashamedly he discusses it. Looking on the magazine's companion website, I found out that he not only practices his faith, but even shares it with the next generation by teaching the First Communion class at his local parish!

A couple of things that stand out for me, especially given our family's current stress level, are Colbert's takes on work and suffering. Discussing the first, Colbert shows the author (Neil Strauss) two notes he has stuck to his desk. One says, "Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God." The other simply says, "Work" because, in Colbert's words, "nothing ever gets better unless you work." He further explains, "So I have 'work' here and 'joy' over there, and I try to put the two together somehow."

As for suffering, Colbert talks about having experienced the tragedy of losing his father and two brothers in a plane crash when he was a child and, when asked whether going through the "dark period" that resulted has helped him do what he does or made it more of a challenge, Colbert responds:

Not to get too deep here, but the most valuable thing I can think of is to be grateful for suffering... To be grateful for your suffering is to be grateful for your humanity, because what else are you going to do - say, 'No, thanks?' It's there. 'Smile and accept,' said Mother Teresa. And she was talking to people who had it rough..."

Reading this actually spoke quite eloquently to our situation, and in many ways it was exactly what I needed to hear. In sum: be glad for what you do have (even the suffering), work to change your life for the better, and - most importantly - do everything you do with joy. As Colbert says about his show, "...if you can do it with joy...then it's 'The Joy Machine' as opposed to 'The Machine.' Considering the speed at which we do it, we'll get caught in the gears really quickly unless we also approach it with joy."

Again, this really was just what I needed to hear, and from a really unexpected place. I highly recommend you read it if you have a chance!

Reasons to homeschool numbers 3,000,091 and 3,000,092

As I was in the shower today (enjoying one of the few moments of silence in my life) I started thinking about different things going on, and I won't explain the progression from one item to the next (it started with thinking about going to Mass tonight, and ended with my two new reasons to homeschool...) I ended up ranting inside my head, and thought since blogs are basically for ranting and raving, I'd come post my thoughts here.

So, the first one, reason 3,000,091 to homeschool is this: I know all schools, both public and private, do fundraisers...and that reason alone is a much lower number on my list (Colorado spends $8167 per student, among the lowest funding, with New York spending over $15000 per student) Even with Colorado's low school funding (for comparison, we don't expect to ever spend more than $500 per kid, per year)I find the fact that schools feel they need fundraisers to make ends meet disconcerting.

Due to the dumb cut off date, Eva is finally old enough to be going to PRESCHOOL (yes, we are over half done with Kindergarten) so, several of my friends kids have just started preschool. At our last Bible Study, one mom was telling us that the PRESCHOOLERS are required to do the fundraising, as well as the older kids. I mean, honestly...making 4 and 5 year olds sell crap for the school??? Just ridiculous. It just means that they expect the parents and other family to buy stuff, because I am ASSUMING they don't want 4 year olds going door to door selling stuff! (I guess what they probably REALLY want is the PARENTS to sell stuff...) And of course, there are rewards for selling the crap for the school...you get some sort of money "school bucks" or something like that. These "bucks" can be used at the school Christmas shop where you can buy cheap crap to give as gifts to your parents and siblings. As if that's not enough...the school wants the parents to come in an run the Christmas shop.

While I am on the subject of cut off dates (although this has nothing to do with homeschooling), I am very aggravated with the library. You see, at our library, they have an awesome story time program. Unlike other programs I've heard of, the kids must be signed up for an official time, and must be 3 to be a part of storytime. Of course, Charlotte won't be 3 until November, but the library says that it's cut off date is that they must be 3 before storytime begins (in late September...) and she can't just join a group in the middle of the year. NEVER MIND that EVERY SINGLE LIBRARIAN has told me that Charlotte is more than ready for story time...she doesn't fit into the dumb age schedule, so she is not welcome!

And of course, the reason 3,000,092 is President Obama's address next week. Last time I checked, the schools weren't doing the most fabulous job of educating students...for instance, this says that 75% of high school graduates are not ready for college...so, lets waste time with a "stay in school" speech by the president followed by questions such as (for the younger kids) What is the president trying to tell me? What is the president asking me to do? What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about? What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
Teachers could extend learning by having students:
· Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked with the following labels: personal, academic, community, and country. Each area could be labeled with three steps for achieving goals in that area. It might make sense to focus first on personal and academic goals so that community and country goals can be more readily created.
· Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress.
· Write goals on colored index cards or precut designs to post around the classroom.
· Interview one another and share goals with the class to create a supportive community.
· Participate in school-wide incentive programs or contests for those students who achieve their goals.
· Write about their goals in a variety of genres, such as poems, songs, and personal essays.
· Create artistic projects based on the themes of their goals.
· Graph individual progress toward goals.
Or, for the older kids, great questions like: Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? How will he inspire us? How will he challenge us? What might he say? Do you remember any other historic moments when the president spoke to the nation? What was the impact? What resonated with you from President Obama’s speech? What lines or phrases do you remember? Whom is President Obama addressing? How do you know? Describe his audience. We heard President Obama mention the importance of personal responsibility. In your life, who exemplifies this kind of responsibility? How? Give examples. How are the individuals in this classroom similar? How is each student different? Suppose President Obama were to give another speech about being educationally successful. To whom would he speak? Why? What would the president say? What are the three most important words in the speech? Rank them. Is President Obama inspiring you to do anything? Is he challenging you to do anything? What do you believe are the challenges of your generation? How can you be a part of addressing these challenges?

Yeah...couldn't they use all this time to actually TEACH and LEARN something???

Okay, rant over!

Quick Takes Friday

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We were just talking about how reliable our ugly old car is the other day, so naturally, when we went for a drive yesterday, it started making horrible noises and we couldn't get it above 35 miles an hour. So, hubby dropped the girls and I at home, and took it up to our mechanic (thankfully it made it home AND to the mechanic!) Our first guesses were something with the transmission (yuck) or something with a belt (we were crossing our fingers) or something else entirely. It's looking like something else entirely so far...and maybe not in a good way. Today they are going to drain the oil to see if there are bits of metal floating around in it (that would be very bad...terminal, in fact). If that is okay, they are going to look at some cover somewhere in there to see if it is cracked (that would be a best case scenario). They are going to call us every step of the way to see if we want to proceed to the next diagnostic thing. We obviously don't want to put too much money in this car, because we were planning on replacing it in the next year (probably more like 6 months) anyway.

2-
Neither of us slept very well last night. I had a hard time going to sleep, and hubby had a hard time staying asleep. Not good when we are both worrying that much. We have been researching vehicles a little bit (it does tie my stomach up in knots to think about at car loan, but that's what we'd probably do...) Any recommendations for SUVs with 4WD or AWD? We'd love to get something bigger (that could seat more than 5) if we are going to keep it for a long time, but it is looking like those will be out of our price range if we need a car sooner rather than later...so we are not discounting 5 seat ones.

3-
Eva's birthday party was awesome. It was really nice not having to worry about much, and just getting a chance to relax with family and friends. We had about 8 kids there, and almost 20 adults who acted like kids were swimming (plus another half dozen non swimmers that wandered in and out during the swimming part.) I was really glad that Eva got simple presents this year...she so often gets SOOO much stuff...but she got some dress shoes, some books, a magazine subscription, some candy, some bracelets (made by a friend who has 4 boys), an inexpensive digital camera, and ballet lessons and clothes from MIL. I even managed to tell my parents about our upcoming move before they came out, so that MIL and FIL didn't have to try to keep it quiet.

4-
Upcoming move? you say...well, I don't think I've actually blogged about the whole deal, but since most of our town knows, pretty much all of hubby's hometown knows, and even my parents know, I figure it is probably safe to blog about now. Hubby comes from a farming and ranching family, and his dad has farmed and ranched with his brothers for a very long time now. To make a REALLY long story short, the brothers agreed to split up the farm, and so in January FIL will be on his own...well, not entirely, because hubby's little brother is already out working for the farm, and sometime in the new year we will be moving out to the farm, too. Of course, we don't have any little piddly details like "when will we be moving?" (not that I like to plan or anything) but that is the main reason why we are looking at SUVs to replace our car (if, in fact, the problem is terminal or too expensive to bother with on that old of a car).

5-
I have been combing the net for zucchini bread recipes, because I STILL have zucchini coming out the ears, and have enough frozen shredded zucchini to make a batch a week and STILL not run out before next summer. Here is the one that I made last night...not the healthiest of options, but very tasty! Donna's Chocolate Zucchini Bread

6-
ONE MORE DAY OF SCHOOL...I've been having to force myself to finish up 3rd quarter of Kindergarten with Eva, and I just about have no ambition left. I had planned to finish it up a couple of weeks ago, then start 4th quarter on September 8th. Now I am just hoping to start 4th quarter by the end of September. We got a few new items for school, including a home ec curriculum that is driving my MIL crazy. The title of it used to be Home Economics for Home Schoolers, but it also is published as Lessons in Responsibility for Girls. THAT is the part that just ticks off MIL...she doesn't think that things should be published for girls (never mind that we have TWO GIRLS so far...) and thinks that all home ec stuff should be gender neutral (wanna guess what decade she was a teenager during???) But, as we only have girls so far, I know my first two students will be fine with the "for girls" title.

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And finally, I'll leave you this week with a self portrait of Eva, taken with the camera she received for her birthday:


More quick takes over at Conversion Diary.

When party comes before principle

As a pro-life Catholic (who would think there could be anything else?!), one of the things that most saddens and infuriates me are people who - sometimes from the rooftops - proclaim their pro-life beliefs, then act in complete defiance of them. Nowhere does this seem to be more prevalent than in the higher echelons of the Democratic Party.

I have often said I am pro-life first, before any loyalties to a particular political party. As an illustration, I sometimes tell people that if a pro-life Democrat were running against a pro-choice Republican, I would vote Democrat. The problem is, I've never been given the chance.

I know there are Democrats out there who are ardently pro-life and believe they can change the party from the inside. A guy I was friends with in college falls into this category, in fact. I wish him luck. However, it seems that anyone who desires to advance within the party must first check his or her pro-life beliefs at the door.

One example comes from here in Colorado. In 2006, The Los Angeles Times reported that "local abortion rights activists [were] despondent" because their only choice against pro-life, Catholic Republican Bob Beauprez was self-described pro-life, Catholic Democrat Bill Ritter. Well, it turns out that they really had no reason to fear for their agenda.

As former Colorado State Treasurer Mark Hillman pointed out just over a year ago, "Ritter restored state funding for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains; signed legislation that requires all Roman Catholic hospitals to distribute emergency contraception to rape survivors; said he will not seek to appoint judges who oppose abortion rights; and has 'no antiabortion legislation on his agenda.'" Noting Ritter's propensity for trying to come down on both sides of the fence on other matters (such as labor issues) Hillman notes, "Once a politician trades for political gain what he knows to be right on an issue as fundamental as human life, it's hard to imagine anything he won't compromise. With no discernible core beliefs - except the desire to be governor - Ritter is understandably indecisive."

Another example comes from a column by Colman McCarthy in The Washington Post during the 1988 presidential campaign. McCarthy describes a hypothetical confrontation between the Jesse Jackson of 1977 -who was an ardent spokesman for the rights of the unborn- and the Jesse Jackson of 1988, who had turned 180 degrees away from his prior beliefs in just over a decade. "Jackson of 1988," McCarthy wrote, "[said] abortion is acceptable because ''it is not right to impose private, religious and moral positions on public policy.'" But the 1977 Jackson would have responded, according to McCarthy, how he had previously written about those who justify legalized abortion based on privacy: "That was the premise of slavery. You could not protest the existence or treatment of slaves on the plantation because that was private and therefore outside your right to be concerned."

Perhaps the most timely example of this kind of hypocrisy comes from a letter written in 1971. It says, in part:

While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old. (source)

The author of that letter, Senator Ted Kennedy, died this past week with ratings of 100% each in 2008 from NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood. Kennedy's salvation is certainly between him and God. I hope he, as a practicing Catholic, took the opportunity to make a good confession before he died, and be reconciled with God and his Church. But it breaks my heart to think about how this country could have been different if he had spent his 47 years in the Senate defending life, rather than worrying about what groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood thought of him.

In the air we breathe...

It's been a really busy couple of weeks, and the prospects for the next couple of weeks look just about the same way... so, I thought I'd take the chance while I had it to share a few thoughts.

A really good (non-Catholic) friend contacted me recently to ask whether I would find it offensive, as a Catholic, if she dressed her daughter as a nun for Halloween. If she happens to read this, I'd like to thank her for thinking of me, and especially for getting me thinking about it! (For the record, my response was basically that, as long as the costume wasn't designed in such a way as to intentionally demean nuns or the religious life, I didn't think any reasonable Catholics would have a problem with it; in fact, the daughter might find herself in the company of some Catholic children whose parents use Halloween and All Saints' Day as a chance to teach about the lives of the saints!)

The conversation reminded me of something I'd noticed while carrying mail around the town in which we live: many non-Catholics seem to be drawn toward Catholic images and ideas, even if it would never occur to them to investigate the faith itself. While my friend is definitely exceptional in lots of other ways, her interest in a nun's habit certainly isn't one of them when you consider all of the appearances by nuns in movies and television over the years. And it's not only nuns: just on the little mail route that I carry, I have noticed St. Francis statues in the yards of two non-Catholic customers, and a "Friar Tuck"-like monk in another. In fact, my non-Catholic customers with "Catholic lawn ornaments" (visible from where I deliver mail, at least) outnumber my Catholic customers with similar statues three to one!

I think Catholic imagery surrounds us to such an extent that we don't even think about it too much, but it's even more interesting to me that it occurs where we live because it hasn't traditionally been a heavily Catholic area. Several of the little towns around ours don't have a Catholic church, but almost certainly would if they were another couple of hours further east in the more densely Catholic areas of Kansas or Nebraska. In fact, I have met people in the area who remember crosses being burned in front of the homes of Catholics.

Reflecting on this brings to mind Christopher Stasheff and his various "light fantasy" novels (of which MM has now read 36, I believe, with me not too far behind!). His books generally take place in a more or less medieval setting one way or another - sometimes in an alternate universe, sometimes in the future on planets recovering from being cut off from "civilization," and so on - and are somewhat unique in the fantasy and science fiction genres in that they seriously consider the role religion (and, in particular, the Catholic Church) played in the day-to-day lives of the people of that era. Stasheff comments in at least one of the short biographies that appear in the back of the books that, as a fan of fantasy novels depicting the "swords-and-sorcery" era, it always struck him as odd that many writers tried to be historically accurate in so many areas while completely ignoring what would have been one of the most important to the characters described: religion. It permeated nearly every aspect of life, Stasheff points out, like the air around us.

When you think about it - and the nearly universal appeal of such Catholic figures as St. Francis and Mother Teresa (not to mention the "Hail Mary" pass) - maybe our culture's not so different, after all.

Quick Takes Friday

1-
The Midwest Catholic Family Conference was awesome. I had such a great time this year, even with Charlotte being too young for the children's program. Lots of great speakers, and even more excitingly, I found out that Dr. Ray Gaurendi will be there next year (yeah!) So, I'm already planning on taking the girls next year. So, today, here are some conference pictures...first one of the girls this year, then a couple of the Tony Melendez concert (he asked for 6 or 7 people of any age to come up on stage and sing), then finally a picture of the girls at LAST year's conference, so that I can get teary eyed about how big they are getting...

2-
Both myself and MIL had appointments up in the city this week...so we were all over the metro area on Tuesday, and then found out shortly after getting back that SIL who lives in Denver is moving (needed to find a cheaper place to rent, and ended up deciding to get rid of her cats to open up more living options) so I think we are all going up on Sunday after church to help her move.

3-
We'll be attending church in hubby's hometown this weekend to sell tickets for the Tony Melendez concert being held at our parish on August 29th. I think there should be quite a bit of interest, but the person in charge of all the tickets could only scrounge up 20 tickets for us to sell...if more people are interested, we'll have to take down names and if there are other tickets that come back from other parishes, then we'll be able to get them tickets. Ironically, it is looking like many people from our parish won't be able to get tickets. Some people have been saying that they'll just buy tickets at the door, but it looks like it will be a sell out before then!

4-
Hubby and I bought tickets to begin with, but are thinking about giving ours away, since we just saw Tony Melendez at the conference in Wichita, and because we will be helping run the spaghetti supper ahead of time. Eva was so impressed with Tony Melendez, that I'm thinking we'll have MIL take the girls up to the concert on our tickets.


5-
I recently ordered "The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh" off paperback swap...it had been on my wish list for about a year now, and I was very excited that it was even a hardback version. It came in the mail today...maybe with a little divine intervention. The person who sent it had wrapped it up in two priority mail envelopes, but sent it media mail (with stamps), there was no PVI label (the little printed thingy at the PO) which is required for all packages over 12 oz or something like that (it's a heavy book!), none of the stamps were canceled (until hubby canceled them for fun at work...) and we weren't charged postage due for the priority mail wrapping. Even more cool than the fact that it wasn't lost in the mail or that it didn't come with several dollars of postage due is the fact that it was a brand new book in wrapping! So, I'll be wrapping it in gift wrap to give Eva on her birthday!

6-
Speaking of birthdays...my 30th is in three days...I don't know if I'm ready to turn 30 yet! I know I've been harassing hubby about being 30 and over for a long time now, and I'll no longer be able to starting Monday...then I'll have to wait until he turns 35, and point out that he is pushing 40...oh well!

7-
My SIL (the one about to move) is also turning 30 soon...first week of September. MIL asked each of us individually what we would like to do for our birthdays...and we both answered with "can we just ignore that I'm turning 30?" MIL is not that easily persuaded, so we have been talking about different things...gambling wasn't too exciting, theatre would be okay, but I'm leaning towards spa day. So, I was bored and on the computer, so I thought I'd check out spa services and prices (I can't help but be cheap!), so I looked at Colorado spas, and then thought maybe I should look in the other direction...so I looked up Nebraska spas, and found one that has some good specials going on in Grand Island, NE...who knew there would even be a spa in Grand Island?

More quick takes as always at Conversion Diary!

"It's the Post Office that's always having problems!"

Ok, first:

Isn't this exactly the argument that those who are opposed to the government running the health-care system (or even just part of it, a la the "public option" plan) use? I mean, I'm the first to point out that running the postal service is more complicated and difficult than most people imagine... but it's also not a matter of life and death, most of the time.

Secondly, speaking as a postal employee: thanks for the vote of confidence, man. That'll give morale a big shot in the arm; I just know it!

Update: Just a thought: I wonder how the two biggest unions for postal employees (the APWU and the NALC) - who both supported the Obama presidential run - feel about this. According to unionfacts.com, they each spent over $1.3 million on "political activities and lobbying."

Update 2: My boss received an e-mail today with a couple of articles on this comment. The one from The Wall Street Journal was especially good, but I can't find an online version yet. Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post ends with this remark: "Still ... to have the president poke fun at your financial situation in his first public comments about your agency? Yeah, not good."

Update 3: OK, here's the link to The Wall Street Journal's online commentary mentioned above, if anyone is interested (under the subheading "ObamaCare Goes Postal"). And now, looking at all of these updates, I think I've officially started beating the proverbial dead horse! Moving on...

Since I'm going to miss my quick takes this week...

I figured I'd pop in with a few things!

The girls and I went to the Kit Carson County Fair this week with MIL. They have a wooden carousel, one of the last of its kind in the country (there are only around 150 left) and it is in beautiful condition. We spent much of the day riding it (it runs every half hour) while MIL judged cakes. The girls had a lot of fun. I didn't get any pictures in action, as I had to hold Charlotte on her horse, but I thought I'd share a couple of cute ones with you today.


Also, I've been canning away again. We ignored our bean plants for a couple of weeks...so when I sent hubby out to pick them, he came in with an over half full 5 gallon bucket. So, we have 10 more pints of green beans for winter consumption.

Finally, this year I ordered an assortment of hot peppers from Gurney's...so we didn't know what we were getting until they produced fruit. At least two of the plants are alive and well, one has banana peppers, and other other has these...our guess is Thai chili peppers...but we don't really know, and I have no idea what to do with them! Any ideas or suggestions?

Well, better go finish cleaning so that we can get out of here and do our last county fair thing (volunteering at the beer garden) before heading to Wichita!

Delivering mail in a small town

Now that I've spent a day finally getting my county fair fix for the year (thank you to MM, who has far exceeded her county fair tolerance for the year, but was willing to endure a little more so I could enjoy the pork I helped with and check out the livestock), I feel a little more like talking about my day yesterday.

Not that it was necessarily that bad, although the lack of a full complement at the post office due to vacations and days off - compounded by me dropping a bunch of mail in the middle of the street and having to re-order it all - made it a little stressful; rather, it was just sort of surreal.

There are a lot of times when, while delivering mail, I'll see something fairly bizarre. Volunteer corn growing out of the rain gutters on people's roofs, for example, or just some of the things people leave out on their porches... But usually my role is just that of an observer, not someone involved in "the action." Yesterday, though, I was walking up to someone's mailbox when their crazy nutjob dog came tearing around the corner of the house, bearing down on me. I started waving that customer's mail around in the dog's face to keep its snapping jaws away from me, and I guess I must have yelled a little bit because the lady who lives in the house came out to see what was going on. As soon as she stepped out onto her porch, she shouted something and went sprinting into her house. The next thing I knew, she was running back out, firing probably eight or ten paintballs at the dog! I don't know if any of them hit the dog, but she was a good enough shot that he ran away (and I wasn't hit).

I was fairly steamed about the whole thing immediately afterward, mainly because this dog is an ongoing problem for me. By the time I told MM about it over the phone while she was on her way back from yet another fair, though, I could hardly stop laughing long enough to get the story out.

I guess I should just be thankful that I normally don't need to go inside people's houses for this job. When I used to appraise houses for the county assessor's office in the last town we lived in, I got to see the full glory of small-town freakiness (including, but not limited to, topless vacuuming). So, there's a "glass half-full" way of looking at things somewhere in there after all!