They're all three! Happy Birthday Studeo!
And that would be, starting at the top, Ria, Gus, Terri, Bernie, Kate and Frank, each at the age of three.
Thanks for visiting - we enjoy your company!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
What do all these smiling faces have in common with Studeo?
They're all three! Happy Birthday Studeo!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Neither a Naive Joy nor a Vain Hope
Reading Jesus of Nazareth (which I just finished today!) and re-reading Spe Salvi recently have caused me to delve into some long neglected works of Pope John Paul II. I just started reading Crossing the Threshold of Hope and particularly enjoyed this succinct passage:
Because the Pope is a witness of Christ and a minister of the Good News, he is a man of joy and a man of hope, a man of the fundamental affirmation of the value of existence, the value of creation and of hope in the future life. Naturally, this is neither a naive joy, nor a vain hope. The joy of victory over evil does not obfuscate - it actually intensifies - the realistic awareness of the existence of evil in the world and in every man. The Gospel teaches us to call good and evil by name, but it also teaches: "Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good."
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunbeam
I love this action shot - particularly Frank, who looks like he's trying to grab the sunbeam. The kids were all on the deck playing with bubbles while John cooked dinner on the grill in the rather chilly evening.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
I Didn't Really Plan Today to be "Quote Day"...
...but I'm reading a selection from Jesus of Nazareth for tonight's discussion (we're nearly finished with the book, by the way; next week will be the final discussion) and I had to make note of this powerful passage:
Whenever messianic or other related titles are applied to [Jesus], as for example by the demons he casts out, or by Peter in his confession, he enjoins silence. It is true, of course, that the title Messiah, "King of the Jews," is placed over the Cross - publicly displayed before the whole world. And it is permissible to place it there - in the three languages of the world at that time (cf. Jn 19:19f.) - because now there is no longer any chance of its being misunderstood. The Cross is his throne, and as such it gives the correct interpretation of this title. Regnavit a ligno Deus - God reigns from the wood of the Cross, as the ancient Church sang in celebration of this new kingship.
One More Quote I'm Thinking About...
This is also from Spe Salvi, on the "Moral Treasury of Humanity":
These decisions can never simply be made for us in advance by others - if that were the case, we would no longer be free. Freedom pre-supposes that in fundamental decisions, every person and every generation is a new beginning. Naturally, new generations can build on the knowledge and experience of those who went before and they can draw upon the moral treasury of the whole of humanity. But they can also reject it, because it can never be self-evident in the same way as material inventions. The moral treasury of humanity is not readily at hand like tools that we use; it is present as an appeal to freedom and a possibility for it. This, however, means that:
a) The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world can never be guaranteeed simply through structures alone, however good they are. Such structures are not only important, but necessary; yet they cannot and must not marginalize human freedom. Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order. Freedom requires conviction; conviction does not exist on its own, but mu-st always be gained anew by the community.
b) Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in this world. Anyone who promises the better world that is guaranteed to last for ever is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom. Freedom must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Free assent to the good never exists simply by itself. If there were structures which could irrevocably guarantee a determined - good - state of the world, man's freedom would be denied, and hence they would not be good structures at all.
Material Solutions are Inadequate When Talking About People...
This is off-topic for an article I'm attempting to work on, but I stumbled upon this quote and was struck by it once again, not so much because of what it says about Marxism, but because of what it says about people and their needs:
Marx not only omitted to work out how this new world would be organized - which should, of course, have been unnecessary. His silence on this matter follows logically from his chosen approach. His error lay deeper. He forgot that man always remains man. He forgot man and he forgot man's freedom. He forgot that freedom always remains also freedom for evil. He thought that once the economy had been put right, everything would automatically be put right. His real error is materialism: man, in fact, is not merely the product of economic conditions, and it is not possible to redeem him purely from the outside by creating a favorable economic environment. (Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI)
Thrilling News!
I'm thrilled to the point of getting teary-eyed over the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will be beatifying Cardinal Newman!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Chicken Bean, the Movie
Chicken Bean is Frank's imaginary movie, as can be seen in this illustration, drawn by the movie's producer and director, Frank. Ria kindly wrote in Frank's notes.
He specially requested that this be posted on the blog.
By the way, I still don't understand why the Nest Holder is the thing that holds the nuts, but I have determined that Chicken Bean has nuts just in case he gets hungry.
An interview with the producer/director:
Who is Chicken Bean?
Frank: He's shaped like a chicken.
Does he talk?
Frank: Yes.
Part of the storyline involves Darth Vader, who stole a rifle from Chicken Bean. "Save" (the short guy on the left side) took the rifle back and gave it back to Chicken Bean.
Spring Happiness...
Our daffodils have been in bloom for three or four days (the camera was misplaced again) and we've been spending a lot of time outdoors lately. Yesterday, in fact, we spent the morning on a farm MANY miles from us for an Arbor Day event with presentations on tree identification and, of course, some tree planting.
Blogging will likely continue to be light for some time to come. Besides the downfall of the kids' computer (which means this one is more in demand for everything from audio book listening assignments to Ria's writing projects for co-op), I have a LOT of non-blog writing I need to get done in the next few weeks.
Blogging will likely continue to be light for some time to come. Besides the downfall of the kids' computer (which means this one is more in demand for everything from audio book listening assignments to Ria's writing projects for co-op), I have a LOT of non-blog writing I need to get done in the next few weeks.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Once in Awhile you Remember...
exactly what you were doing three years ago. Today is one of those days. :)
My Children and the Papal Conclave
Happy Anniversary Holy Father! Viva il Papa!!!
It's a good thing my children are doing the blogging for me this week about the Papal Visit. My week's been so busy that I haven't watched very much of the coverage and have a lot of reading to catch up on when I have a chance.
My Children and the Papal Conclave
Happy Anniversary Holy Father! Viva il Papa!!!
It's a good thing my children are doing the blogging for me this week about the Papal Visit. My week's been so busy that I haven't watched very much of the coverage and have a lot of reading to catch up on when I have a chance.
More Papal Blogging
Gus has a great post up at the Love2learn Blog about Pope Benedict's Coat of Arms.
More Adventures in Bad Gardening
Last year I bought a couple of rhubarb plants hoping to get a little patch started at this house (I had a lovely patch at the old house that came up beautifully every year and was a lot of fun in the cooking department).
Unfortunately we never got around to finding just the right spot and these plants sat in the middle of one of the gardens... all winter.
I had given them up for dead, but somehow never got around to getting rid of them.
Ah, so just recently, I discovered that they have survived last summer's neglect AND the long cold winter out-of-doors in a very small pot and are determinedly sticking around. :)
Unfortunately we never got around to finding just the right spot and these plants sat in the middle of one of the gardens... all winter.
I had given them up for dead, but somehow never got around to getting rid of them.
Ah, so just recently, I discovered that they have survived last summer's neglect AND the long cold winter out-of-doors in a very small pot and are determinedly sticking around. :)
Friday, April 18, 2008
The Roses that Lived
About four years ago, I went to Home Depot one late spring afternoon and fell in love with some hybrid tea roses that smelled absolutely beautiful! Money was a little tight at the time, so I very stubbornly resisted the temptation to buy them.
Just three or four days later, I was back at Home Depot and discovered with great joy that the roses were on sale for 50% off. I promptly bought two (at $10 each) which have ever since enjoyed our sunny deck during the warm weather months and the more temperate climate of our sun room during the winter.
They seem to bloom about four times per year and we festoon them with Christmas lights and colorful bulbs each year.
They also seem to come near death three or four times each year. I'm really a rather poor gardener and most of my indoor plants don't make it at all, so I'm always in amazement that they actually survive!
A month or two ago they served as an interesting illustration to one of our catechism discussions. You see, I had just plucked the dead dry leaves from it (which seemed to be the entire plant!), but I was surprised and delighted to discover while plucking these that there were many tiny new green shoots already hiding underneath!
This reminded me of the Catholic Church today that, even when things on the outside may appear to be at their worst, there are already many small, but powerful signs of life that will surely bloom in their own good time.
Anyway, we were able to move the roses back onto the deck a few days ago and are presently enjoying this lovely bloom!
Just three or four days later, I was back at Home Depot and discovered with great joy that the roses were on sale for 50% off. I promptly bought two (at $10 each) which have ever since enjoyed our sunny deck during the warm weather months and the more temperate climate of our sun room during the winter.
They seem to bloom about four times per year and we festoon them with Christmas lights and colorful bulbs each year.
They also seem to come near death three or four times each year. I'm really a rather poor gardener and most of my indoor plants don't make it at all, so I'm always in amazement that they actually survive!
A month or two ago they served as an interesting illustration to one of our catechism discussions. You see, I had just plucked the dead dry leaves from it (which seemed to be the entire plant!), but I was surprised and delighted to discover while plucking these that there were many tiny new green shoots already hiding underneath!
This reminded me of the Catholic Church today that, even when things on the outside may appear to be at their worst, there are already many small, but powerful signs of life that will surely bloom in their own good time.
Anyway, we were able to move the roses back onto the deck a few days ago and are presently enjoying this lovely bloom!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Building Trojan Horses at the Latin Club Meeting
This is a little more of what we've been up to this week. It was our turn to host the Latin Club Meeting and we had an extra big crowd. The big event was a 3-way competition in building Trojan Horses.
Hallelujah!
It was 75 and sunny yesterday and last night was the first night we slept without a heater running. What a quick change! Last week was mostly 40s and rain. The rain is coming back today, however.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Lately We've Also Been Working On...
Homemade bread - thanks to a lovely little cookbook called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (which I discovered on someone's blog awhile back - can't remember for the life of me who it was).
The secret is that, in addition to very simple recipes (no breadmaker involved, by the way) you make one big batch of dough, do most of the rising and then stick it in the fridge. Theoretically, you take a little dough each day, let it rise for another 40 minutes and then bake it - Yum!!!
The only problem is that one batch lasts our family one day. As it turns out, it's not really a huge problem because my husband (who's been taking over more of the cooking lately so that I can tackle his much-hated paperwork-and-budget stuff) is happily making up a batch of dough EACH night (he says it's REALLY easy) for the next day's cooking.
The book claims that you can double or triple the recipe without any problems. We'll probably try that once we're able to buy an extra little fridge for the basement to hold the huge four gallon plastic refrigerator containers we found went shopping around.
The secret is that, in addition to very simple recipes (no breadmaker involved, by the way) you make one big batch of dough, do most of the rising and then stick it in the fridge. Theoretically, you take a little dough each day, let it rise for another 40 minutes and then bake it - Yum!!!
The only problem is that one batch lasts our family one day. As it turns out, it's not really a huge problem because my husband (who's been taking over more of the cooking lately so that I can tackle his much-hated paperwork-and-budget stuff) is happily making up a batch of dough EACH night (he says it's REALLY easy) for the next day's cooking.
The book claims that you can double or triple the recipe without any problems. We'll probably try that once we're able to buy an extra little fridge for the basement to hold the huge four gallon plastic refrigerator containers we found went shopping around.
Prayer Requests of All Sorts...
For Mrs. F, the violin teacher of some very good friends of ours, who is going in for brain surgery for cancer today. These same friends have lost both a very dear piano teacher and a very dear Latin tutor to cancer in the last few years.
For my friend Margaret who miscarried this week.
For Mona, a good friend of my cousin, who was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer.
For my friend Margaret who miscarried this week.
For Mona, a good friend of my cousin, who was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
What we're watching now...
We love being able to watch EWTN via the Internet. EWTN is providing full coverage of the Pope's visit online at www.ewtn.com
Also, my two oldest are going to be doing some blogging about the visit on the Love2learn Blog.
Also, my two oldest are going to be doing some blogging about the visit on the Love2learn Blog.
The Fish
One of John's co-workers in Taiwan sent us home with a wooden craft project (each with a very oriental flair) for each of the kids - a number of years ago. Last weekend, they got brought out for some reason (I think that Kate stumbled upon them in the basement) and now most of them are completed. Here's the fish. He might get a layer of paint a little down the road.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Cooking with Daddy
This is Bernie (age 8 - she's standing on a chair) cooking applesauce last night with Daddy.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Happiness Is...
Washing the snowsuits because the ten day forecast indicates that it's probably worth the risk.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Bonus Photo
Ria took this picture of a pot of homemade hot cocoa she started recently. I really like the lines formed by the striped kitchen towel, the edge of the stove and the pot handle.
April Shower of Photos (More or Less)
(I couldn't find my camera last night)
This is what our out-of-doors looked like generally as of Tuesday of last week. I suspect it'll be rather amazing to do a comparison a week later, especially since we've had LOTS of rain (and a bit of snow) since.
This is what our out-of-doors looked like generally as of Tuesday of last week. I suspect it'll be rather amazing to do a comparison a week later, especially since we've had LOTS of rain (and a bit of snow) since.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Kate Reads to Mr. Incredible
I love this photo! Though Kate *is* reading some of the Bob Books now, here she's doing more of an imitation of reading by interpreting the pictures and remembering bits from previous reads. She pulls it off with enough confidence to make me do a double-take on occasion. :)
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Madrigals Concert
OK, I'm actually attempting to participate in the lovely April Shower of Photos thing (I hardly ever actually manage to do these sorts of things, so I thought I'd put in a few days' worth before officially committing myself to it). I'm really enjoying the other photos.
Even though I'm hoping a lot of our photos will be from the out-of-doors, I thought the bright colors here worked out pretty well. :)
This is a picture of Ria and friends at her Madrigals' Concert from a few nights ago. This is a 10 week program at a local music school of ancient music (both sung and played on the recorder) in a variety of ancient languages. Ria informs me that more than half of the music was sacred music, including a chant piece from the 6th century (Crux Fidelis).
It was lovely! Ria's the one in the teal dress, playing her tenor recorder.
By the way, I'm not exactly sure why the class is commonly referred to as "Madrigals".
Even though I'm hoping a lot of our photos will be from the out-of-doors, I thought the bright colors here worked out pretty well. :)
This is a picture of Ria and friends at her Madrigals' Concert from a few nights ago. This is a 10 week program at a local music school of ancient music (both sung and played on the recorder) in a variety of ancient languages. Ria informs me that more than half of the music was sacred music, including a chant piece from the 6th century (Crux Fidelis).
It was lovely! Ria's the one in the teal dress, playing her tenor recorder.
By the way, I'm not exactly sure why the class is commonly referred to as "Madrigals".
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Certitude and Hope
Another quote from Spe Salvi:
But in truly great trials, where I must make a definitive decision to place the truth before my own welfare, career, and possessions, I need the certitude of that true, great hope of which we have spoken here. For this too we need witnesses - martyrs - who have given themselves totally, so as to show us the way - day after day. We need them if we are to prefer goodness to comfort, even in the little choices we face each day - knowing that this is how we live life to the full. Let us say it once again: the capacity to suffer for the sake of truth is the measure of humanity. Yet this capacity to suffer depends on the type and extent of the hope that we bear within us and build upon. The saints were able to make the great journey of human existence in the way that Christ had done before them, because they were brimming with great hope.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Compassion and Hope
Here is a beautiful segment from Pope Benedict XVI's Encyclical on Hope. This particularly reminds me of many loving families I know who break away from society's sometimes confused concept of the value of a person by truly accepting children who are handicapped or emotionally disturbed (or whatever) as God's children and equal in His eyes (particularly a homeschool family who are presently grieving for the sudden loss of their teenage son, who despite his handicaps was clearly a great joy in their lives)...
A society unable to accept its suffering members and incapable of helping to share their suffering and to bear it inwardly through "com-passion" is a cruel and inhuman society. Yet society cannot accept is suffering members and support them in their trials unless individuals are capable of doing so themselves; moreover, the individual cannot accept another's suffering unless he personally is able to find meaning in suffering, a path of purification and growth in maturity, a journey of hope. Indeed, to accept the "other" who suffers, means that I take up his suffering in such a way that it becomes mine also. Because it has now become a shared suffering, though, in which another person is present, this suffering is penetrated by the light of love. The Latin word con-solation, "consolation," expresses this beautifully. It suggests being with the other in his solitude, so that it ceases to be solitude. Furthermore, the capacity to accept suffering for the sake of goodness, truth, and justice is an essential criterion of humanity, because if my own well-being and safety are ultimately more important than truth and justice, then the power of the stronger prevails, then violence and untruth reign supreme. Truth and justice must stand above my comfort and physical well-being, or else my life itself becomes a lie. In the end, even the "yes" to love is a source of suffering, because love always requires expropriations of my "I," in which I allow myself to be pruned and wounded. Love simply cannot exist without this painful renunciation of myself, for otherwise it becomes pure selfishness and thereby ceases to be love.
Making Adjustments...
I realized just before starting school back up again last week that it was time to make some adjustments. Stress level, sense of accomplishment, organization, etc. needed a little tweaking - especially for the oldest two.
I decided on a whim to take them out to breakfast last weekend for a "business meeting". We talked about how things were going, looked at the various subjects they are working on and divided them up into two categories - things that needed daily attention and things that could be worked on just a few times per week. It was interesting to discover that, for the most part, it was the ones needing daily attention that needed some special focus, whereas the weekly or bi-weekly lessons were going quite well.
I also had in the back of my head that John would like to spend more time with the kids working on school, but we hadn't yet figured out how to make that happen.
There are other tidbits as well, including the fact that, in general, the kids do better with a list of subjects to work on each day or week rather than having continuous strictly-scheduled time for each subject. We've tried it. It really doesn't work here.
Here's what we came up with. As you can see, it's a bit of a hybrid solution...
We will have 2 1/2 hours in the morning, four days a week, that WILL be strictly scheduled. This is mostly for those subjects, like Latin and Math, that need to be worked on every day.
Part of what is unique about this time period is that we've finally set-up a quiet area for the kids to spend that time in. This time was set-up mostly for the oldest two, but others are invited to join them, as long as they are quiet. The extent of the voluntary association of the younger ones into this scenario was surprisingly extensive this past week!
Having this quiet area was essential, especially for Gus. He's one gets distracted if he's working all by himself in his bedroom OR if he's in the middle of everything. Having a quiet room in which to work with others (with me jumping in frequently to keep an eye on things and introduce topics and such) seems to be working well.
The quiet room we set up is our master bedroom. Until we set the attic up in the last few weeks, there wasn't enough room to study there.
The other scheduling piece we came up with is to have one night a week completely clear for John to do some schooling with the kids. They love working on Math with him at night (and this will be a chance to do so regularly) and he's also planning on doing some science with them each week. My challenge is to not schedule anything for that night so that we can keep some consistency.
I decided on a whim to take them out to breakfast last weekend for a "business meeting". We talked about how things were going, looked at the various subjects they are working on and divided them up into two categories - things that needed daily attention and things that could be worked on just a few times per week. It was interesting to discover that, for the most part, it was the ones needing daily attention that needed some special focus, whereas the weekly or bi-weekly lessons were going quite well.
I also had in the back of my head that John would like to spend more time with the kids working on school, but we hadn't yet figured out how to make that happen.
There are other tidbits as well, including the fact that, in general, the kids do better with a list of subjects to work on each day or week rather than having continuous strictly-scheduled time for each subject. We've tried it. It really doesn't work here.
Here's what we came up with. As you can see, it's a bit of a hybrid solution...
We will have 2 1/2 hours in the morning, four days a week, that WILL be strictly scheduled. This is mostly for those subjects, like Latin and Math, that need to be worked on every day.
Part of what is unique about this time period is that we've finally set-up a quiet area for the kids to spend that time in. This time was set-up mostly for the oldest two, but others are invited to join them, as long as they are quiet. The extent of the voluntary association of the younger ones into this scenario was surprisingly extensive this past week!
Having this quiet area was essential, especially for Gus. He's one gets distracted if he's working all by himself in his bedroom OR if he's in the middle of everything. Having a quiet room in which to work with others (with me jumping in frequently to keep an eye on things and introduce topics and such) seems to be working well.
The quiet room we set up is our master bedroom. Until we set the attic up in the last few weeks, there wasn't enough room to study there.
The other scheduling piece we came up with is to have one night a week completely clear for John to do some schooling with the kids. They love working on Math with him at night (and this will be a chance to do so regularly) and he's also planning on doing some science with them each week. My challenge is to not schedule anything for that night so that we can keep some consistency.
Life Has a Way...
of getting in the way of blogging. :)
Some of what we've been up to this week (and weekend)...
I imagine that everyone has a task (or two) that they particularly procrastinate on because they just don't like doing it. For me, it's making doctor and dentist appointments. Last Monday morning, I finally bit the bullet and scheduled all of our dentist, doctor and eye-doctor appointments. April will be busy! Our doctor actually had an entire afternoon open the following day, so I took all six kids in for check-ups, assembly-line fashion. Nice!
Our annual library book sale. The kids and I help with set-up and clean-up and such every year as well as finding some goodies for ourselves. Favorite finds - a Teaching Company audio course for 50 cents (it's on Churchill - not one from my wish list, but could be very interesting!) and a funny little pop-up book on "The Seven Great Explorations" (that should provide some nice history pegs for the little ones). I also picked up some fun home decorating and gardening books. At 50 cents for any hardcover, you just can't go wrong.
Attic Work. It's an amazing thing to discover and renovate a room you didn't know existed - even when it's only four feet tall. John installed a pull-down attic ladder a few weeks ago and almost has the entire floor covered with boards. We were able to move the Christmas things and some paperwork tubs upstairs, thus freeing up the under-stairs shelving in the basement, which allowed me to get rid of a clunky shelf unit that was right in the middle of things and move our overflow kitchen appliances and canned goods under the stairs. I went all-out and put some sticky-linoleum tiles on the shelves (the particle board didn't seem all that great for food and paper goods and such) so it looks FABULOUS. The tiles were left-over from a little flooring project at our old house and weren't enough to cover all three shelves. Fortunately I found a reasonably compatible new box on clearance at Home Depot, and we're good.
Two Teen Discussions This Week. We finished chapter eight of Jesus of Nazareth (the sections on "Bread" and "Shepherd" - FABULOUS reading!) and expect to polish off the book within about a month. Yesterday afternoon we discussed The Ballad of the White Horse - a very lively discussion with lots of fun mini-readings to enjoy the language.
I'm sure there was more, but I just don't remember.
And I think I forgot to mention how much I love my new vacuum. We've never really had a decent vacuum until now. For many years (especially in our apartment days) we got away with a little hand-held dirt-devil. We've had some carpet sweepers and a few very old used Kirbys. Finally, we bit the bullet and checked out Consumer Reports. A very solid and reasonably-priced Eureka upright with a hose attachment came out quite well in their ratings. It was a little over a hundred dollars and I couldn't be happier. Having the right tools makes a huge difference! Funny thing, a few days after this purchase, I happened to mention to my sister-in-law in Oklahoma that we bought a new vacuum. It turns out that they had just gone through the same process within a month or so of us and picked out the exact same vacuum.
Some of what we've been up to this week (and weekend)...
I imagine that everyone has a task (or two) that they particularly procrastinate on because they just don't like doing it. For me, it's making doctor and dentist appointments. Last Monday morning, I finally bit the bullet and scheduled all of our dentist, doctor and eye-doctor appointments. April will be busy! Our doctor actually had an entire afternoon open the following day, so I took all six kids in for check-ups, assembly-line fashion. Nice!
Our annual library book sale. The kids and I help with set-up and clean-up and such every year as well as finding some goodies for ourselves. Favorite finds - a Teaching Company audio course for 50 cents (it's on Churchill - not one from my wish list, but could be very interesting!) and a funny little pop-up book on "The Seven Great Explorations" (that should provide some nice history pegs for the little ones). I also picked up some fun home decorating and gardening books. At 50 cents for any hardcover, you just can't go wrong.
Attic Work. It's an amazing thing to discover and renovate a room you didn't know existed - even when it's only four feet tall. John installed a pull-down attic ladder a few weeks ago and almost has the entire floor covered with boards. We were able to move the Christmas things and some paperwork tubs upstairs, thus freeing up the under-stairs shelving in the basement, which allowed me to get rid of a clunky shelf unit that was right in the middle of things and move our overflow kitchen appliances and canned goods under the stairs. I went all-out and put some sticky-linoleum tiles on the shelves (the particle board didn't seem all that great for food and paper goods and such) so it looks FABULOUS. The tiles were left-over from a little flooring project at our old house and weren't enough to cover all three shelves. Fortunately I found a reasonably compatible new box on clearance at Home Depot, and we're good.
Two Teen Discussions This Week. We finished chapter eight of Jesus of Nazareth (the sections on "Bread" and "Shepherd" - FABULOUS reading!) and expect to polish off the book within about a month. Yesterday afternoon we discussed The Ballad of the White Horse - a very lively discussion with lots of fun mini-readings to enjoy the language.
I'm sure there was more, but I just don't remember.
And I think I forgot to mention how much I love my new vacuum. We've never really had a decent vacuum until now. For many years (especially in our apartment days) we got away with a little hand-held dirt-devil. We've had some carpet sweepers and a few very old used Kirbys. Finally, we bit the bullet and checked out Consumer Reports. A very solid and reasonably-priced Eureka upright with a hose attachment came out quite well in their ratings. It was a little over a hundred dollars and I couldn't be happier. Having the right tools makes a huge difference! Funny thing, a few days after this purchase, I happened to mention to my sister-in-law in Oklahoma that we bought a new vacuum. It turns out that they had just gone through the same process within a month or so of us and picked out the exact same vacuum.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Another One of Those Meme Things
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
What I was doing 10 years ago:
Taking care of a sweet little newborn who was having extensive medical testing right around this time ten years ago because of an enlarged kidney that showed up during a prenatal ultrasound. Although we did follow-ups at Children's Hospital every year or so for a number of years, everything came up clear each time and no surgery was ever needed.
Five things on my To Do List today:
1. Cleaning up for a house guest arriving tonight.
2. Finish my reading for tonight's catechism discussion.
3. Ask permission to put up one more library book sale sign in front of a local business.
4. Get some basics done on the kids' school (though it's a really odd day today).
5. Open a savings account for my daughter.
Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Put together a college fund for the kids.
2. Pay off our mortgage and set finances up so that John could stay home with us to work on schooling and interesting projects.
3. Support some of the great authors and publishers out there by buying loads of their books to donate to schools and libraries and such.
4. Donate substantially to some great educational institutions/organizations.
5. Invest in some worthwhile educational publishing projects like this.
Three of my bad habits:
1. Skimming instead of reading thoroughly (particularly on the Internet).
2. Procrastination.
3. Paying too little attention to personal appearance.
Five places I have lived:
1. Seattle area
2. Silicon Valley, California
3. Santa Paula, California
4. San Diego area
5. Southeastern Wisconsin
Five jobs I’ve had:
1. Receptionist/secretary in numerous situations
2. Library worker at TAC
3. Cooking and cleaning at the priest's residence at TAC
4. Teaching at a small parent-run school (7th and 8th grade Math and History and 10th grade religion)
5. Typing in books and magazines for a typesetter that I'm related to (this stuff was great Catholic reading - I got to do a number of issues of Homiletic and Pastoral Review and some great titles from Ignatius Press!)
You're tagged if you like.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
What I was doing 10 years ago:
Taking care of a sweet little newborn who was having extensive medical testing right around this time ten years ago because of an enlarged kidney that showed up during a prenatal ultrasound. Although we did follow-ups at Children's Hospital every year or so for a number of years, everything came up clear each time and no surgery was ever needed.
Five things on my To Do List today:
1. Cleaning up for a house guest arriving tonight.
2. Finish my reading for tonight's catechism discussion.
3. Ask permission to put up one more library book sale sign in front of a local business.
4. Get some basics done on the kids' school (though it's a really odd day today).
5. Open a savings account for my daughter.
Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Put together a college fund for the kids.
2. Pay off our mortgage and set finances up so that John could stay home with us to work on schooling and interesting projects.
3. Support some of the great authors and publishers out there by buying loads of their books to donate to schools and libraries and such.
4. Donate substantially to some great educational institutions/organizations.
5. Invest in some worthwhile educational publishing projects like this.
Three of my bad habits:
1. Skimming instead of reading thoroughly (particularly on the Internet).
2. Procrastination.
3. Paying too little attention to personal appearance.
Five places I have lived:
1. Seattle area
2. Silicon Valley, California
3. Santa Paula, California
4. San Diego area
5. Southeastern Wisconsin
Five jobs I’ve had:
1. Receptionist/secretary in numerous situations
2. Library worker at TAC
3. Cooking and cleaning at the priest's residence at TAC
4. Teaching at a small parent-run school (7th and 8th grade Math and History and 10th grade religion)
5. Typing in books and magazines for a typesetter that I'm related to (this stuff was great Catholic reading - I got to do a number of issues of Homiletic and Pastoral Review and some great titles from Ignatius Press!)
You're tagged if you like.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Unnecessary Worries
Sometimes I worry that I'm not doing enough with my little ones. There are certainly educational things that I did more deliberately and more thoroughly with my older children when they were four and six than I'm doing with Frank and Kate.
And yet, there has been some strong evidence of late that they're picking things up quite well. Kate's been spouting out perfectly formed tidbits of theology that she's picked up here and there - almost as if she had carefully memorized it, but better!
What she said today was an explanation of why she decided to help her little brother. She said...
And yet, there has been some strong evidence of late that they're picking things up quite well. Kate's been spouting out perfectly formed tidbits of theology that she's picked up here and there - almost as if she had carefully memorized it, but better!
What she said today was an explanation of why she decided to help her little brother. She said...
Mommy, do you know why I helped Frank? Because God said, 'Treat others the way you want to be treated.'There have been other things too - about Jesus' suffering on the cross (which she was able to tell me she picked up from the meditation read at Stations of the Cross) and about the Trinity and things like that.
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