My world

Bits and pieces

Every once in a while I look through the list of search terms people use to get here and put together a post answering those pressing questions that led some poor, lost soul here.

Some of the latest:

What are the lyrics to “Things you don’t say to your wife”?
I have no clue, but if you would like to listen to it again here it is:

 

 

What are Catholic prayers for dogs?
Ummmmm.  I have no idea.  According to American Catholic the usual “Blessing of Pets” goes something like this: “Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures. You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land. You inspired St. Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless this pet. By the power of your love, enable it to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen.”  That is pretty much what I have heard.  Historically animals were of bigger importance to everyday life, but of less emotional importance than pets are today.  My personal opinion there is something a bit off in how some of us treat our animals.   NPR recently had a very interesting Talk of the Nation about Pets (well worth the listen no matter what your personal opinions on pets/money/care are).   But it doesn’t surprise me that the Church has a long tradition of blessing animals.  Pets, farm animals, food – the fact is that animals are an important part of our lives – the Church acknowledges this fact in prayer.

But back to prayer for dogs.  Catholic prayer can take the form of a set prayer (Hail Mary, the Lord’s Prayer) but this isn’t the only type of prayer available to Catholics by any means.  If you want to pray for Fido you can pray however you like.  I remember my daughter praying to St Francis when our cat Tom died.  She prayed that he would look after Tom for her.  I assured her that when she got to Heaven if she needed Tom to be happy Tom would be there for her (totally by-stepping the discussion of pets having souls and all that).

Bloomers – Yes, my younger daughters wear bloomers under their dresses and skirts.  They actually love their bloomers.  We are not one of those “dresses only” families.  (nothing against those who are, but we just aren’t)  but my little girls love to wear dresses and they like to tumble about.  So I like the bloomers on them.   I like McCalls pattern 4505 it is easy to sew and makes a lovely little bloomer that is comfortable and modest. 

Do you wear underwear under a karate uniform? Lord I hope so.

My autistic child is having meltdown every day.   I am so sorry.  Meltdowns are very common with autistic children it can be hard for them to communicate their needs and wants and that frustration can led to meltdowns.  There is also often a lack of impulse control associated with autism.  Do children outgrow them?  Sometimes.  I have friends who tell me how their children’s behaviors have improved over the years.  For others that is not the case and the meltdowns continue.   If you are having problems with meltdowns I highly recommend talking to a behavioral consultant or Psychiatrist.  Outside help can make a huge difference and be very helpful.

Have you played D&D 4th Edition yet? No, the books finally got here last week.  Today my husband’s BBF is calling him to torture him over the fact that they are playing tonight and we are not.  They are only a couple thousand miles away – it would be worth the road trip – right?

Catholic stuff · My world · rants

Working With Blinders On

40 years and a couple weeks since Humanae Vitae was written and so much of society, secular and not, just seems to not “get it”.  One of the “better” pieces is here – at least John L. Allen isn’t actively condemning the church, but the comments that follow it are close to rabid.  If you do a Google search on the news for “Humanae Vitae” you will find a slew of folks opining about how out of step, out of touch or just down right evil Rome is to hang on to this out modded teaching.  Yes, the blinders are firmly on.    What they miss is how much of the heart of the Catholic Church, the young families and the college aged Catholics are pretty firmly behind the Church on this.   The assumption seems to be if you don’t buy into the cultural norm of what sex is and means then you must be nuts (or brain washed, or have a really awful sex life).    But I do not see that as the case.

From where I sit there isn’t a lot to be said FOR the pill.  So you can have sex anytime you want.  But do you want to?  Sure you can put off child bearing or artificially space your children, but is that really a good thing?   If marriages were stronger, children were happier, rape was less frequent,  motherhood was respected, young women were judged on their minds and character instead of their beauty I might think that the “pro-birth-control” people at least had a point.  But this isn’t the case.  All of these things have become worse since the pill was introduced not better.   The media doesn’t even seem to think about this all as related and society doesn’t seem to question the conventional “wisdom” at all, they tighten up the blinders and tut tut the Pope and talk about the backward Catholics that follow the teachings of Rome as being out of step with reality.    Personally I sort of like being counter cultural.

Blogs I Know · Fun · Homemaking · Simplicity

$100 a week for groceries

I found this article over at Old Fashioned Girl and read the original MSN article

A family of four eating on $100 a week for a month I believe.   I agree with a lot of what Amandasaid.  The woman in the story is spoiled and it shows.  She also knows this is an “experiment” not a way of life.  I  had to wonder what their normal diet is like when I read  “By midweek, we were all a little sick of rice and potatoes. By the end of the week, I never wanted to see another raisin, carrot, pretzel or piece of puffed rice again. ”  Seriously?   What kind of snacks do they normally have?  It seemed odd to me.  The article is worth reading at least for the “welcome to the real world” factor.   Nothing ground breaking or even inspiring to me, but it did make me giggle.

Uncategorized

The Simple Woman’s Daybook – July 28


he Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at the Simple Woman.
Thank you Peggy.

FOR TODAY : July 28, 2008
My little girl turns seven this week.  

Outside My Window… One of those horrible evil crows has showed up.  He is a noisy bugger.  Usually they don’t stay around long.
I am thinking… About apples, my apples are looking ripe.
I am thankful for… My new sourdough starter.  My father in law gave me a starter yesterday I need to start playing with it.
From the kitchen… Sour dough pancakes for tomorrow will be fun and make my husband happy.  Today I am making some more apple sauce and some pie filling for the freezer. 
I am wearing…  Brown capris and a purple top.  
I am creating…  I have some old code that stopped working with PHP5 and I need to fix it.  Not quite creating, but unfortunately that might end up being the case if I can’t get it to work the way I want it to — yeah drawing board.
I am going…  Nowhere today.  My sister in law is heading to Guam in about a week.  Now I find this endlessly humorous because Guam is the place I use instead of Timbuktu.  Send her to Guam for all I care.  Makes me laugh.
I am reading…  Laundry, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell and It’s All Too Much. 
I am hoping…  That the code I need to fix is an easy fix.
I am hearing…  The evil crow and his evil friend. 
Around the house… I am preparing a new garden bed.
One of my favorite things… My laundry line.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:Hannah turns seven this week.  We will be having a double deck-er birthday party for her and her cousin and a going away party for my SIL and her family this weekend.

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

Uncategorized

Apples, clothing, projects and a wedding

This has been a VERY busy week for me.  I have apples coming out my ears so far I have made apple sauce to freeze and picked out some very fine apples to make apple dumplings.  Then my sister-in-law gave me about 5 lawn and garden sized bags of clothing for Hannah and Josh mostly that I have been sorting through.  And I have had three projects (my web development stuff) make their way to my front burner.  So I haven’t exactly been ignoring my blog, but it haven’t had time to write much either.

This weekend we are going to my nephew’s wedding.  This should be a lot of fun.

Blogs I Know · Fun · Homemaking · My world · Simplicity

Tightwad Tuesday – bulk fun in more ways than one.

Big families mean big fun. But going fun places can be hard on the budget.

Tightwad Tuesday is hosted by Mary at Raising 4 godly men.

One thing we do is invest in memberships to our favorite places. 

For me to take Ashley and the four younger children to the zoo is $40 and it is almost $50 if Kyle comes too.
A year long membership to the Zoo at the lowest family level costs $69.  It is a cost savings of nearly $30 if we use the Zoo twice in a whole year.

For the art Museum it would cost  the kids and I $24 and $34 if Kyle is with us.   The membership is $65 with $40 tax deductible.   Here we only need to go 3 times and the whole year is paid for.

The children’s Museum is $48 for one trip for the kids and I $54 with Kyle and a membership is $80 but only covers four children so we might spend $8 out of pocket each visit, but the pass is still covered after two visits.

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry breaks down like this:  $49 for the kids and I, $60 if dad is with us,  the family plus plan allows for four child and one guest (the other child can be the guest) and costs $115 but comes with some nice perks.  Again two visits and we are covered.

Even our local pool/community center is a deal.  It would cost the children and I $16.75 to go swimming once, the annual pass is $38.25 a month which includes the fitness center, drop in activities and roller skating.   It makes for a good deal considering we love swimming and the center has a lovely indoor pool which we use year round.

The real payoff for these passes isn’t just that they are cost savings, but that they are also incentives to use our favorite places more.  We don’t mind going to the zoo for a couple hours for a picnic dinner after Kyle gets off work when we just have to flash the pass and walk in.  

These also make great gifts.  My parents have given us zoo passes for  Christmas each year and we love getting them.   If your parents are the type to ask for “hints” memberships are a wonderfully easy solution for the whole family.  Check with your employer (or husband’s employer) to see if the company has a discount arrangement with the institution – some do.  Some institutions also offer discounted rates for lower income families.

The only warning I would like to offer is to check the membership restrictions to make sure that your family membership will cover your family and that there aren’t “black out times” or other restrictions which diminish the usefulness of your membership. 

But next time you are considering a fun outing for your family consider purchasing a membership instead of tickets.

Blogs I Know · Homemaking · My world · Simplicity

The Simple Woman’s Daybook – July 21


he Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at the Simple Woman.
Thank you Peggy, this is so much fun!

FOR TODAY : July 21, 2008
This is going to be a busy week.

Outside My Window… I  can see the moon.  I love a “Children’s Moon”.  The summer is wearing on and there are lots of apples in the tree.  The berries will be ready before much longer.
I am thinking… That I am starving.  I really am not starving I am just fasting before this morning’s blood draw, but I feel like I might waste away in that time.  Silly mind tricks.
I am thankful for… My Sister in law who gifted us about a ton of clothing.  I think I just got about 12 bags of stuff in my living room.  More on this later today.
From the kitchen… I am a moron and forgot to buy milk when I went to the store yesterday.  I also can’t eat at the moment. 
I am wearing…  Brown slacks and a brown/white sweater-t thing.  
I am creating…  Apple sauce.  The neighbor lady generously allowed me to denude her apple tree.  We will make a big batch and freeze some.
I am going…  To my blood draw this morning.  Just a routine metabolic screening to see how diabetic I might be.
I am reading…  Laundry, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell and It’s All Too Much. 
I am hoping…  That  the draw isn’t bad, that the apple sauce turns out well and that my adventure through “gifted clothing land” goes quickly.
I am hearing…  The evil crow.  This bird looks evil and I think he is bugging Mr Fluff-Butt the backyard Squirrel.
Around the house…Bags of clothing.
One of my favorite things… Breakfast (giggle).
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:  We are going to a wedding this Saturday so I need to get everything together for that.

Here is picture thought I am sharing…

Blogs I Know · Fun · My world

Oh no, not a MeMe!

Yes, I know, next I will be blogging about blogging too.    I found this over at A Wink and a Smile  and thought it looked fun and challenging.  So here we go:

One Word MeMe

1.  Where is your cell phone? pocket
2.  Your significant other?  Work
3.  Your hair? Secured
4.  Your mother? Working
5.  Your father?  Solid
6.  Your favorite things? Aren’t
7.  Your dream last night? convoluted
8.  Your favorite drink?  coffee
9.  Your dream/goal?  heaven
10.  The room you’re in?  office
11.  Your church?  Catholic
12.  Your fear?  parting
13.  Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
14.  Where were you last night? here
15.  What you’re not? perfect
16.  Muffins? please
17.  One of your wish list items?  Buffet
18.  Where you grew up?  ranch
19.  The last thing you did? blog
20.  What are you wearing? clothing
21.  Your TV?  dormant
22.  Your pets? good
23.  Your computer? cluttered
24.  Your life?  full
25.  Your mood? contemplative
26.  Missing someone?  no
27.  Your car?  minivan
28.  Something you’re not wearing? shoes
29.  Favorite store?  fabric
30.  Your summer?  Fun
31.  Like (love) someone?  husband
32.  Your favorite color?  changes
33.  Last time you laughed? today
34.  Last time you cried?  Yesterday
35.  Who will re-post this?  you?

Catholic stuff · rants

Brilliant.

Rachel Evans and Amber Pike are giddy as little school girls because they get to tell Catholic pilgrims about ABC.  Because all those Catholics traveling to Sydney must be unaware of the existence of condoms and really need these two to provide them with education about it while they pose for pictures.  Is it so easy to grow up and be completely unaware of these things?  Do these ladies assume that Catholics by and large are an ignorant bunch who miss a lot of stuff in society, despite having the ability to book plane travel and manage to get themselves all the way to Australia, the pilgrims have somehow failed to notice the nearly ubiquitous use of artificial birth control?  Surely no one would actually make the conscious decision to follow Catholic teaching when there is the wonderful  pro-birth-control folks out there teaching the new Gospel, saying:  (to the Pope) “get real and allow people to discover their sexuality and practise with condoms”  and contriving new “commandments”.  Good thing such do-gooders as Ms Evans and Ms Pike exist to annoy people with their sanctimonious little selves.  

You can read more about this story here.