I’ve given up on getting anything done today, after about fifty laps towards an accomplishment, each time reeled back in by a child who needs me. In the meantime, a selection from #2’s quarter exams. The underlined word is the vocabulary word she had to use in an original sentence:
The inner tube popped when Albert, whose weight was over the maximum capacity, sat in the tube.
Laurena knew what she must do: Confront the strict Mr. Flitcher.
Mariah’s groundless worries of food poisoning left her weak and malnourished.
She had lost some points for spelling and punctuation here and there, so I gave her a bonus 2% for entertaining me.
Plague week here at the castle. We started light with a round of coughing and sneezing, and just when we thought we were in the clear (thank you, praying friends), in entered Part 2: Stomach Virus Edition. Miserable child now in quarantine, and teen boy being left to sleep, because this waking up business is getting overrated.
2. Here, I say all kinds of things about what’s going on exciting in the Catholic Writers Guild. By “warm fuzzy feeling”, I mean both the usual understanding of the phrase, and the kind of warm fuzzy that grows in the vegetable bin if left unchecked. You get both. Consider running for office, it’s great.
3. More me, possibly fuzzy, and other smart people, less fuzzy: Links here to my CWG radio gig the other day, and to the Catholic Underground, who picked up on the thoughts of this guy. I had no idea the USCCB put out its own style guide. I want one. Sort of.
4. I don’t think I’ve posted here since I put up my review at AC of the Arma Dei coloring catechism-y things. Short version: They are really cool, and loaded with content. One packet, carefully chosen, will last your class the whole year. In the same review, I mention the Inklings game from Cactus (scroll down on the page). What I don’t mention: When I saw the game this summer at CMN, I was totally stoked, because it completely affirmed me in one of things I said in my book.
5. People who teach well: Christina LeBlanc. Sure, I knew he said smart stuff and wrote a really good book, and he doesn’t expect snacks with his beer, which is to his credit, for certain. And then I heard him talk this weekend. Wow. I totally want that man on the speaking circuit. Big time. Great presenter.
Book him now while he doesn’t cost as much. Videos. I want a video series. Someone put that man in front of a camera.
6. I’m once again affirmed at home on the effectiveness of quiz games for teaching. My littles are both acquiring vocabulary and liking Latin, learned via the shiny flashcards from Classical Academic Press, which are well-suited to about about 5,000 different games. Yes, I know, juvenile: A talking monkey is what it takes for us to get school done. But hey, the talking monkey sells to my younger crowd. Song School 2 DVD is finally coming out, and they have a coupon code for 20% off, which applies to either the DVD alone, or the whole shebang. From my e-mail:
20% Pre-order Discount Code: SSL2DVD
Valid through Oct 6th. Product ships on or before Oct 7th
7. Meanwhile, what we’re using for Latin until the Monkey arrives (and then some), is this:
Mr. Dunphy is a local, and I bought his textbook used off a friend whose son was in Mr. D’s class and loved the book. Now it’s available to the general public here: https://www.createspace.com/3955399. The book follows the adventures of a pair of escaped slaves; the text is in English, with gradually more and more Latin mixed in. At the end of each chapter there’s a vocabulary list and a set of exercises. There’s also a bit of Irish, because, you know, why not?
Another homeschooling friend says her kids love the book too. Suitable as an intro to Latin for boys ages 4 and up, and for girls a little bit older. Because: Swords. Figure for the less-violent types, target age is 2nd – 8th grade, but it’s fun for grown-ups, definitely.
More like this, Latin scholars. Please oh please.
***
8. Reason #648 I’m happy this week: Simcha Fisher agrees with me about something. Yes, I am that cool. Simcha Fisher looked at my blog. I’m pretty stoked. She’s my hero.
No, I’m not back to regular blogging. But I had approximately seven things to say, and it’s a Friday, so that makes this Seven Quick Takes, right?
1. Why yes, that was us you saw at the National Vocations Meet-Up March for Life.
Low point: Children in tears due to experience of being a southern-person whose mother does not know how to dress them for cold weather.
High point: Making a brief retreat into the National Gallery to go potty, rest, and warm-up, then re-emerging to a gentle made-for-TV snow flurry, taking up our signs, and falling into line with these guys. Who sing beautifully.
Weird Point: The Metronome, as my 3rd-grader calls it, is determined not to take my money. I kept trying to pay full fare, but the machines refused me at every turn. Fortunately the kind metro-ladies are apparently used to clueless tourists with five children in tow, and sorted me out with a combination of generosity and exasperation that I think must be the hallmark of the metro system.
2. Petersburg National Battlefieldis a good place to run the kids and get your history fix all at once. The ranger does come around checking to see if you’ve paid.
–> Touring tip: Always ask if you’re supposed to pay. Because they expect you to pay, even if they never ever tell you that. And the ranger lady has a gun. Luckily I had asked.
Discussion Question: Any Particular Reason the Union had to engage in war? Why not just let the Confederacy secede, and work on patching things up diplomatically? Put another way: Did the US Civil War meet just war criteria for the Union?
My boy says yes. I’m playing neutral professor-person.
Our other airline-miles magazine subscription, Western Horseman ran a great piece a month or so ago on the troubles ranchers along the US-Mexican border are having with Mexican smugglers, and the lack of cooperation from some of the US border patrol in keeping their lands safe. I can’t seem to find an article link. But let me just say right now, that if you purchase approximately one plane ticket every five years, and want a family-friendly periodical to purchase with your miles before they expire, WH is the one.
3. My son objects to the strong language in Dorothy Sayer’s Lord Peter Views the Body. It pleases me greatly to discover I’ve reared a middle-schooler who complains about words like “damn” and “hell” improperly used.
Apparently it grabbed someone’s attention, because the Catholic Vitamins people invited me to do an interview for their podcast. Which is exciting, in an I-hope-my-phone-battery-doesn’t-die-while-we’re-talking kind of way. I think I can bribe my kids into being quiet with the promise of Krispy Kreme donuts. Also, presumably this is just one step on the long road towards true fame? By which I mean, of course, being on Rhett & Link’s Good Mythical Morning? My son doesn’t think I’ll ever be quite that good, but he puts on an encouraging face all the same.
Let me observe once again that there would be no moral objection at all if the government merely required employers to pay workers a sum sufficient to pay for the desired contraceptive services — for example, by putting the necessary funds into a healthcare savings account that employees could then use to purchase supplemental insurance if they so chose.
And how exactly is it “freedom of religion” if insurance companies and self-insurance administrators must sell (or give away, per the new iteration of regulations) products they may themselves object to? Is there no legal right to sell insurance for some but not all health care services? Will insurers eventually be required to pay for euthanasia as well? Apparently there is a religious test required in order to enter the insurance industry.
6. Speakin’ of that constitution thing . . . my boy observes that 2/3rds of gun deaths are suicides. (Wikipedia’s citing 60%.) Which puts a certain corner of the culture in the odd position of wanting to outlaw something they’re trying to legalize. Apparently depressed and disabled people should die, but only at the hands of licensed death-care providers?
If you aren’t from Gunlandia, you probably should not visit gunmemes.com. It takes a special red-state redness to enjoy.
7. You know you live in a warped culture when you feel the need to clarify something like this: “For the record, I’m 100% opposed to all forms of murder and suicide.”
Ooh, oooh, want me to exasperate everybody in one single catechism quote? How about this one? Enough to make everyone you know get all squirmy-wormy:
2269 The fifth commandment forbids doing anything with the intention of indirectly bringing about a person’s death. The moral law prohibits exposing someone to mortal danger without grave reason, as well as refusing assistance to a person in danger.
The acceptance by human society of murderous famines, without efforts to remedy them, is a scandalous injustice and a grave offense. Those whose usurious and avaricious dealings lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly commit homicide, which is imputable to them.70
Unintentional killing is not morally imputable. But one is not exonerated from grave offense if, without proportionate reasons, he has acted in a way that brings about someone’s death, even without the intention to do so.
Most weeks, I really like the Tuesday / Friday method of staying on track. It helps me remember to post stuff. This is not that week. I say that during the Wed-Thurs interregnum, Jen F. and Larry D. can split the difference. In castle news this week:
1. Child Vomits At Church.
Thank you Mrs. S. for cleaning the front pew while one parent whisked sick child home and the other disinfected the sacristy bathroom. Thank you, Lord, that:
The other two altar servers had already left the pew to go do whatever it is they do during the offering.
Mrs. S, veteran mom, had chosen to sit next to Mt. Splashmore.
Mr. O., who himself had blessed the altar-area in the same manner during his days as an altar boy, was sitting behind us and volunteered to watch two little girls while parents did more pressing parent jobs.
No one else has gotten sick.
Nice usher guy was helpful, too. He showed us the plastic toolbox in the usher’s closet labeled “Vomit Kit” — apparently this is all part of the life of an usher. Though by that time I’d already snagged disinfectant and paper towels from the kitchen, and begged extra trash bags from the nursery. Mothers don’t think the way ushers think.
2. Sandra’s Married!
And she told me I should wedding-blog. Which I will. A different day. Teaser:
Lovely, lovely ceremony.
Historic location + period dress = coolest combo ever.
Halloween-themed reception . . . oh I know you crabby apples are raising an eyebrow at that, ’cause I did too. But it was just perfect for the couple, and not at all like you think.
More later.
3. Exciting writing news, almost ready to be announced. If I seem like I’ve wandered off the edge of the earth, um, yes, I have.
3.5. McKissick Museum. For all your glow-in-the-dark geology needs.
4. Check out the Catholic Writers’ Guild blog this coming Sunday, Christian LeBlanc has a cool post scheduled. And Julie Davis writes on Saturday, I think, and she’s no slouch either. It’s a good CWG weekend.
5. Latin.I think we’ve found a solution. I’ll let you know in two months.
6. And with that, I’m going to sneak back into hiding, and leave the internet to you. If I’m lucky I might get a backlog of assorted posts run, but I’m not placing any bets. Have a great weekend.
This morning as I stumbled down the hall, coffee in hand, the fourth grader handed me A Bridge to Terabithia.“Mom,” she warned me, “don’t let anybody read this for school. It is terrible. It has very foul language.”
“Oh?” I had read it way back in elementary school, but hadn’t looked at it since. I couldn’t really remember what was in the book.
“Yes. They use the d-word. And the parents say things like ‘crap’ and ‘crud’ and ‘you stupid’. And that’s just in one chapter.”
We’re so used to seeing our own children, so used to the idea that they’re under our care, that we sometimes forget that the angels rejoice when a young person goes out into the world armed with truth and love, instead of going forth with their hearts cramped and crabbed by an acceptance of abortion. This is where the battle is fought: in individual hearts. Each abortion is a tragedy because it ends an individual life—but each heart that is taught how to love is a true and eternal victory.
Yes, raising our children lovingly is commonplace, a duty, nothing new. So what? It’s still a big deal. It’s still the way to save souls. This is the great thing about being part of the Culture of Life: everything counts. You don’t have to save your receipts! Your good works have been noted, and they will not go to waste.
2. Bearing reminds me, I’m not the only mom who got paid to go to graduate school, in order to prepare for a rewarding career in the ultra-non-profit sector. I don’t typically feel guilty about this. Back when I was applying for fellowships, I assumed I’d ultimately end up in some kind of field that was a natural extension of my start in accounting — maybe moved out of staff and into operations, or teaching accounting 101 at the community college, or who knows what — who can really predict how a career will turn? I also knew that I wanted to be a mom, and that I was intentionally picking a field that lent itself to momness. Ditching it all in order to stay home and raise kids? If only I could be so lucky.
At the fellowship interviews, I was asked, “What do you see yourself doing in five years? Ten years?”
I answered honestly. “Solving problems.”
Which is what I do.
3. This week at the Catholic Writers Guild blog I’ve been shuffling around the schedule to get all the mundane writer-talk posts pushed off until after Easter. I didn’t want Holy Week to be chit-chat as usually. But Sarah Reinhard’s post for today, even though it’s sort of a blogging post, it’s really a Holy Week post: Remember Your Priorities.
–> Hey and real quick please pray for Sarah’s very urgent prayer request for a family member with a scary, likely life-threatening diagnosis on the way. Thanks.
4. You know what? I just love this photo so much. I was thrilled with Julie D. picked it out for her 1,000 Words post. Because I just like to look at it.
5.Holiness versus Weirdness. It’s a constant battle. I spend a lot of time just trying to figure out how to live life. I feel stupid about this, because, well, not knowing how to live your life has got to be one of the marks of stupidity, right? But at the same time, I live in a culture that doesn’t know how to live life, so I remind myself it’s not exactly shocking that my adulthood be devoted to figuring out what I ought to be doing instead.
And I’m not alone. Which makes reading Catholic Lifestyle Lit of a decade ago so amusing, because the holiness-fads of years gone by shout out like a pair of parachute pants. Which is why my children in ten years will be laughing about this over Thanksgiving dinner:
When I wrote about fasting from artificial light in the Register a while back, I got a ton of interesting responses. One of my favorites was from a dad who told me about this family tradition that they’ve been doing for 30 years:
We turn off the light when we leave for Holy Thursday Mass and don’t turn them on again until we return from the Saturday Easter Vigil at around midnight on Saturday.
We got the idea when our parish turned off the lights and had us exit in silence on Holy Thursday. And we entered at the Easter Vigil in darkness which continued until the Gloria. And, of course, Good Friday services were held during the daytime so lighting was not a main focus. So we got the idea to practically “live” this period when Jesus the “light of the world” was taken away from us.
I think we might try this this year. Anyone else going to give it a shot?
My kids will the story of how I read this idea at some Catholic lady’s blog, and when I told Jon, not only did he like the idea, he proposed we just flip all the breakers in the house except the one for the kitchen.
So yeah. Weird. I know we are. I know it kids.
6. But listen, weird isn’t all bad. My garden is awesome. If by “awesome” we mean: I like it. And I was sitting in it this spring, and realized that Margaret Realy’s book about Prayer Gardens had come true. I read it, followed the instructions, and wow, it worked. Highly recommended if you want a little quiet garden-y oasis, and need some ideas about how to make it work.
And with that I’ll cut out the rest of the chit-chat and go be all vocational. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here come Easter or so.
It’s the end of the Catholic Writer’s Conference Online, and I had a reader here take me to task for not publicizing it enough. (“Conference? What conference?”). So I’m going to fix that.
2.
The thing is this: A year ago, Mike Hays and I were making trouble at Sarah Reinhard’s otherwise very civilized blogging workshop. We were saying things like, “And the CWG ought to have a blog! And Mike will pray once a week! And Jen is willing to help! Because she always volunteers for things, even though she has no time, but this time she really thinks she should!”
3.
And someone took us up on it. Ann Lewis presented me with a newborn blog, and said, “Here you go, find writers.” Mike’s led prayers over at CWG every week since. He rocks.
4.
So anyway, what you need to know is that if you’re a Catholic writer, you really ought to check out the Catholic Writers Guild. And if you’re a Christian writer of any flavor, join us all through April for 30K for Christ. There’s a 30K for Christ forum for CWG members, and non-members are encouraged to check-in at the blog with progress reports, or join in via Twitter following top-secret instructions Sarah Reinhard’s going to decode and make public by Sunday.
Meanwhile, you should steal this stylish 30K Logo so that everyone knows you aren’t just writing stuff, you’re on a mission:
5.
Allie Hathaway’s a Catholic writer. Pray for her. Thanks.
6.
Of the 7,000 cool things I learned at the online conference, my favorite is this:
Sr. Marie Paul Curley is Jim Curley’s sister. That’s why she looks so happy in her profile pics on her blog. If you weren’t already reading her blog, now’s the time to start.
And in news culled from that blog: Act One is accepting applications for the coming year? Yes? Still open? I don’t see a deadline.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS APRIL 4, 2012. Project is unpaid, but participants will receive copy, credit, and reimbursement for production-related costs.
ABOUT YOU LOST ME
With You Lost Me, Barna Group researcher David Kinnaman shows why younger Christians are leaving the church and rethinking their faith. Through research and statistics, Kinnaman shows how pastors, church leaders and parents have failed to equip young people and how this has serious consequences. Those disconnected from the church are not statistics, says Kinnaman — they are people with real stories. You Lost Me, in part, is a challenge to the church to slow down and listen to those who consider themselves outsiders.
FYI for those who rightly worry about these things, Act One has made it’s mark as an outspoken criticism of the sugary 3rd-rate rah-rah-rah team brand of inane Christian programming. So this looks promising.
7.
And now I’m going to Aldi. Wait! No I’m not! The kids made a list . . . and we all forgot! The truck’s in the shop! Ack. Leaky hose. It’ll be home soon I hope. Good thing our idea of “out of groceries” involves still owning large amounts of food.
And tomorrow: Taxes. I’d better get a head start since I’ll have to do grocery run tomorrow. Do you know what my #1 writing rule is? If you can’t write as clearly as the IRS, you should be fired.
7.5
Whoa! What’s with the website redesign at IRS??? Ack. It’s colorful. Bright. Cheesy photos of satisfied customers. NOOOOOO! I want my boring soothing, orderly accountant-blue back. Nooooooo!
Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, keeping up with all your man card punching needs.
Click and be amazed.
1.
There was an incident. 5-year-old girl, 11-year-old boy, breakfast, and an injured knee. I was summoned to the inquest. Findings were inconclusive, but I was quite certain 6th graders need to learn not to get involved in injuring small children during meals. I declared he would be her personal servant for the next 30 minutes.
A few minutes later I walk into my study, and there’s the boy. On my computer. “Tink told me to set up Minecraft for her.”
2.
Next time someone asks me to join in on a group baby-shower gift, I’m going to suggest one of these:
I want one. Two, actually. Maybe for Mother’s Day someone will ship me a product sample. I promise I would blog about it.
3.
For the other 50% of childhood plumbing problems, what you want is a pair of these:
Just reach in and grab your dropped object. So much easier than taking the trap apart. God bless my father-in-law, genius of a gift-giver.
3.5
On the same porch with the laundry line and the true table tennis, we have a collection of 2″ PVC pipe and fittings. Just add a ping pong ball and you’ve got . . .
***
Well, that’s all for today. It’s Link Day once again, one link per comment so you don’t get accidentally caught in the spam dungeon, where my long pliers reach rarely and reluctantly. Guys you’re going to have to do better in the combox if you want to defeat the mom-bloggers.
A whole weekend's worth of entertainment at your fingertips. Click to read more.
1.
The 4th grade science book had this explanation of charge (negative, positive, etc) that was just not computing with a certain child. Trying to figure out how to explain what the girl needed to know was going to take more brain power than I wished to exert. So I fetched the boy’s old snap circuit kit, and said, “Read the directions, make a couple of these, and then we’ll talk.”
She loves them. She’s made maybe twenty of the projects now.
And the SuperHusband came home and explained the habits of those wiley electrons in terms we could all understand.
2.
In his explanations, he observed electrons are a lot like people. Certain children, for example, would much rather we evenly populate the rooms of the house, than have three girls crowded together in one bedroom. It was an analogy our people-person girl grasped immediately.
3.
On the evening walk after dinner, Mr. Boy proposed seminars that run the opposite direction. “People Skills for Engineers”, for example. In which you explain that people are a lot like electrons.
Benadryl season, here. I ran out of the liquid. Seven-year-old had dark circles under her eyes, perpetual sneezing, and was losing her voice. But the pill. It doesn’t want to go down.
Until I remembered this stuff:
Now she’s very punctual in reminding me when she needs her next dose.
6.
We weren’t sure whether our dog would get along with our friends’ dogs during the pending staycation, in which all Fitz creatures under a certain age vacate castle premises for the weekend. So we ran a test the other day. One of the host dogs was not pleased at the arrival of the guest dog, and our pup insisted on saying a few pointed words back . The altercation slowly edged them towards the pool.
Our dog, unaware she was backing up towards the water, fell right in. She swam to the side, and my friend showed her the way up the steps.
And after that, the dogs got along just fine.
7.
And with that, I’m out of here, and offline, until sometime Monday. Think I might send the telephone off with the kids, too. Have a great weekend!
(Meanwhile SuperHusband and I are enjoying an eerily silent weekend. I’ll check back at the combox and all that come Monday, or whenever we lose our un-plugged concentration and just have to ignore each other for a while.)
Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who lives with a teenage driver.
Click for the whole story.
1.
When my big kids were little, they played Mass in the bathroom. The necessary accessories were:
Holy Water
Bible
Crackers for Communion
They said the Lord’s Prayer, and read from the Bible, and it was all very heartwarming.
Now my current 5-year-old has taken to setting up a church for the hippos and bunnies. The required items are:
Drum Set
Offering Envelopes
Collection Basket
Bulletins
She makes sure there’s a nursery in her pillow-fort church building.
2.
She also likes to play pirates. I tried to serve her hardtack and sauerkraut for lunch today, but she wasn’t convinced it was real pirate food. She voted for fish sticks.
3.
A friend is keeping the kids for us this weekend so we can get away for a couple vacation together. We priced hotels in one town (expensive, yikes), looked at the time required to go down to our favorite patron’s free beach house (too long a drive), decided camping was too much bother to count as R&R, and now are trying to decide . . . which room of the house? We keep telling the kids we’re gonna sleep in their bunkbeds while they’re gone. They think we are joking.
3.5
. . . James Herriot. Seriously. Me. I’d never guessed.
***
It’s Link Day. Guys you get your man card punched double if you leave boy links on a girl blog. Surely you aren’t going to be out-linked by a girl, are you? One link per comment so you don’t get accidentally stuck in the automated spam dungeon. Jane-Austen themes purely optional.
Oh and look, I have a link. I stuck up a post at Amazing Catechists yesterday, on how to teach about the sacrament of marriage when your students’ families are not 100% on board. I meant to wait a bit before posting it, but then I needed to send it to somebody, so I went ahead and put it up. One thing that might surprise you — this is a topic where the United State Catholic Catechism for Adults really comes into its own. It’s as if the bishops have some practice with these situations.
1) Yeah, we pretty much stink at prayer-n-fasting. Especially when housework is supposed to fit in their somewhere.
2) But I did have an Adrian Monk Moment, and clean the yard in a frenzied response to stress and frustration. It looks really nice. Or it did 24 hours ago, anyhow.
3) And then here’s what happened: We planned to meet Fr. W for lunch because after six months of trying, dinner just wasn’t happening. Too busy. And we decided that ‘at the restuarant’ was smarter than ‘at our house’. And this morning I thought, “Yes, I’m so glad it’s at the restaurant, because this place is a wreck.” And then I realized: “This place is waaaaay cleaner then the first time he came over last summer. For one thing, at this time I would not need to send the children out on an hour-long mission to “get rid of the disgusting things”.
So, yes. Progress. Not as stellar of progress as my vivid imagination had envisioned. But it’s something.
The Fitz House, Now 75% Less Disgusting!
4.
You thought you could just pray for my intention up there in #1. No can do. Allie Hathaway. Right now.
. . . Okay good. Thanks!
5.
Helen Alvare e-mailed me (and 18,000 of her closest friends, I’m pretty sure) with the reminder that:
. . . The Obama Administration has put real accommodation of religious employers, insurers, and individuals off the table. And they have managed to get leading media to continue to claim that women are on the side of shutting down religious witness on the issue of the “free” birth control in employer insurance plans.
And that’s it. Catholic Writer’s Conference starts tomorrow. My yard is clean. My blog is sad and lonely. The weather is beautiful. My truck is pale yellow from the pine pollen. My 5 year-old has a new green plaid outfit made by her 10-year-old sister from scrap fabric, just in time to keep the neighbor kid from pinching her tomorrow. I have given up all hope of predicting the future, and now consider my calendar to be a work of speculative fiction.
Oh speaking of saint’s feast days, last night I read the account of St. Abraham Kidunaia. And I thought as I read, “Gee, his poor fiance, abandoned on the eve of the wedding, when he fled to the desert and locked himself in a cell.” And then I read a little further, and concluded: “Probably once she learned he was planning to wear the same goatskin coat for the next 50 years, she was okay with it.”
