I saw this over at “Called by Name” and really liked it. I like how Father Kyle applies the concept to the priesthood. Of all the things a man can be, none is more honorable than “father”.
Author: darcee
Just one more Catholic wife and mother on the internet, blogging about homeschooling, living the faith and all that sort of thing.
Christmas and Advent 2008
I walked into Fred Meyer’s the other day and tucked away near the cards and the books was the first Christmas display, the American Greetings ornaments I believe. Normally I am rather perturbed by the consumer driven tendency to market Christmas earlier and earlier each year, but this year I looked at it and thought about how dizzying the Advent/Christmas season is. Every year I hope to be more organised and for the last few years I have note of “The Holiday Grand Plan” which starts holiday planning in the last week of August and finishes it in the main planning endeavors by the middle of December.
Normally I forget all about the “Grand Plan” until mid October. This year I actually remembered about it early enough to bump it back two weeks so I can use it for Advent and Christmas. I plan to bump the Grand Plan back to August 17 and “Tweak” it so that I can focus on Advent too.
The Simple Woman’s Daybook – August 4, 2008
he Simple Woman’s Daybook
is hosted by Peggy at the Simple Woman.
Thank you Peggy.
FOR TODAY : August 4, 2008
Swimming lessons, sourdough and a bunch of organising.
Outside My Window… Another lovely summer morning. The sky is blue, the trees are green the flowers are blooming.
I am thinking… About how much I need to do this week.
I am thankful for… Swim lessons. The children have such a great time going to swim lessons.
From the kitchen… Sour dough bread today.
I am wearing… brown pants and a olive colored shirt.
I am creating… I got my knitting back from my Mother in Law’s so I will have something to work on while I am appointment hopping this morning.
I am going… I have a Dr appointment this morning and then we have swim lessons.
I am reading… Laundry, and A Mother’s Rule of Life.
I am hoping… For so many things.
I am hearing… My oldest son got up early and is playing with some toy in the living room. “Jump!. Roll! Dodge!” a battle maybe?
Around the house… I am preparing a new garden bed almost done there.
One of my favorite things… My Stand mixer.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: I have some work, swim lessons, sewing maybe and a lot of organizing.
Here is picture thought I am sharing…
I’ve got a blog and I ain’t afraid to use it!
Ok, time for one of my very, very rare political posts: This is just too good to pass up.
The Anchoress, my tie to all things Opera and Political, is pointing out a small “rebellion” among the Republican members of the house. To quote: “Today, the GOP asked for continued debate on oil drilling; the Democrats voted instead to adjourn.” Instead of packing their bags and heading home some GOP members of congress are having a good old fashioned “sit in” Good for them. Do something interesting for once.
Now, I don’t really bother too much about what they want to talk about and vote for (Energy policy is the topic de jour) but what delights me to no end is poking the eye of the main stream media, the vultures who tell us what to think, what is important and filter the world on our ‘behalf’. They are not covering this so far. Even CSPAN has had their cameras turned off. But this is news! This is our politicians doing something quite unsual and something that has the potential of effecting us all. So.. since I have a blog, and since I have a voice all ten of my faithful readers can hear about this too. Take that Main Stream Meida Monster (I feel so like St George now) HA!
Update: Seriously I think if I lived in DC I would grab the sleeping bag and some pizza and head down to support the Reps who are there. I know I said above that I don’t much care about the actual vote. I do, I mean my brother and his wife heat with oil – they bought half what they would normally because of how expensive it is. They are planning for a cold winter. I really feel for people in the colder climes. Now, I know that even if something very solid and sensible were to be passed today it would be a while before we would see energy costs coming down, but for crying out loud if this stupid congress can vote to bail out banks and homeowners who knowingly and willingly over-extended themselves (gambled and lost) then we can darn well do something to help out families and small businesses that are getting crushed under these horrible energy costs. Price caps on oil, I don’t care, but do something. To adjourn and go home while your constituents are trying to figure out if they can afford heating oil for the winter is obscene.
Update 2: Way to Go CSPAN (I am not crazy for liking CSPAN) Rep. Culberson is “twittering” this and CSPAN has him linked.
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?
Happy Birthday Hannah
Hannah is seven years old today!
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.
$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.
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…
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.
Simply Catholic 
