Red Haute Couture

The only part of this I encouraged was the scarf. The kid just likes red.

Today I left Luke alone to play while I swept and mopped floors. When I came back later to move the bathroom stuff from the hall back into the bathroom, I noticed our spring scale read "180" with nothing on it. While I secretly hoped for it to be a really good reason for the scale's recent readings with me on it, I suspected that was not the case. I tried to adjust it back, but it didn't seem immediately fixable, so I went to find Luke to investigate. I asked him if he touched the scale, and what he did to it. "I had to get it to say 3," he coolly explained. "WHAAAT?" I coolly shrieked in reply, realizing he must have meant 3 HUNDRED, and that yes, our scale was most definitely not fixable. A little exasperated himself, he shared his full thought: "I had to get it to say 3, so I remember that I'm 3!"

I'm including some baby pictures that I hope will encourage Elizabeth to continue her newborn adoration for as long as possible. Even in a few weeks when the babymoon's over, take a look at these and remember Paul is still tiny and sweet, and lacks any tendency to engage in random displays of unhappy spitting while being fed.


In the first picture, note the tears in the eyes, poised and ready for launching in case any additional spoonfuls of cereal might make their way near his mouth. In the second picture, note the calm hand that belies (though not completely!) the defiance within. (The defiance makes it way out through the eyebrows and feet, and the steely gaze that says, "Oh, were you noticing the 1/2 cup of cereal I spat on my just-cleaned overalls? That's the least of my power.")

Welcome and more

Our Congrats to the Duffy's and Welcome to Baby Paulobamaroni!! I was waiting for the Duffy's to upload a photo spread so we all could comment on his handsome good looks and hairy legs. Maybe in a few years he'll be doing things like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4

my kids latest favorite youtube. Now that Mom and Dad are hightech they can watch it too.

Kate, sorry our dates won't overlap more because I keep coming across all kinds of felted wool projects: purses, pillows, little animals made from gloves, and, my favorite, math gnomes
and more

We had a Thanksgiving to be thankful for, although some of us caught a bug. Hope every one else had a good turkey day. At least little Paul got to enjoy his turkey before being born. Maybe there is a piece of pie somewhere left for his no longer diabetic mother.

Christmas Craft

Hi! Since no one has said it yet on here, I'll go ahead and post a big CONGRATULATIONS to Elizabeth and Joe, and to 'little macaroni' Paul! (Can we call him Paularoni?)

I came across a fun and cozy Christmas/winter craft - slippers made from an old wool sweater! I thought it sounded easy & fun, and we ladies should make them while we're up there. I'll bring the batting if someone will provide the machine and everyone gets their own old wool sweater (I think we can all think of a good place to find a nappy old wool sweater... if not Good Ol' Goodwill, then probably in David's closet.) Maybe a New Years' Eve project? For after we get back from clubbing, of course.

Yippee....

Yes, it is true. Dad and I have stepped out of the confines of dial up internet service and into the new world of wireless!!! We finally broke down out of frustration and using the principle of time and eternity (well...sort of...the time lost waiting can never be regained) got a satellite internet service and then upped it another notch to wireless. This way, if we ever get a laptop...or when Joe comes with his laptop, or when John and Kate come with their laptops...we can e-mail each other across the room!! We did not sign up for the FASTEST connection, but what we have is definately an improvement and the opportunity exists, for a few(?) dollars more, to go even faster!! I am actually asking for a laptop for Christmas...why stop now?
It is a grey, cold, and wet day here. Snow is forcast for tonight and tomorrow. As you know, we decided to cancel our trip to Dallas in expectation of Elizabeth's delivery. We are very sad that we missed Luke's birthday party and the chance to spend time with the rest of the family. It was a tough call. Since Elizabeth has not delivered yet....she is scheduled to be induced tomorrow morning at 7am. Hopefully by tomorrow evening, we will be celebrating the birth of the long awaited "macaroni" (remember Elizabeth's description after her first ultrasound?).
Today is a good day, however, to welcome the Advent season, to begin the waiting and watching. Pope Benedict wrote that "Advent invites us to undertake the risk of stepping forward toward God's mysterious presence, which alone can make us free." Something to ponder.....
Dad is outside just now with his shotgun...ready to take on a squirrel that has been munching on the house. On thanksgiving day, he got a mouse that was WAAAY too casual in his comings and goings....with a broom! Forget the mousetraps! Ahhh, life in the country! It is good to commune with nature.
Well, I really do not have anything else to report...Our new e-mail addresses are:
hustedd(at)dishmail(dot)net
hustedl(at)dishmail(dot)net
Hope to hear from you soon!

R.I.P. Cluny

Today our pet population declined by one. Cluny the rat quietly passed on in Ben's loving arms, a small grace after a long dying process. He didn't eat for 4 days. The cause of death, as best as I can diagnose based on internet research, was either a tumor or a piece of food/plastic stuck in his throat that didn't hinder breathing but prevented him from eating or drinking. I tried the rat heimleich maneuver, but it didn't dislodge the blockage. His remains were respectfully interred near our statue of St. Fiacre in the back garden this afternoon and have been marked by a couple of daffodil bulbs. I'm sure all of you will join us in a moment of silence in his memory as you read this. Cluny was a good and faithful friend.

Who needs weed killer

When you have six kids to dig up the lawn?

Now, since I've told my joke, here are some more photos for those who couldn't attend the induction ceremony. Here's Dad receiving his award:

And here he is making his perfectly timed speech:

And here are his famous photos:
Dad, the most handsome of the inductees:

Some people might of wished this was an inducing ceremony. (Just so we don't forget how miserable our sister is):

Dad in fine form in front of his fraternity:

Everyone enjoyed Seth and Joe's birthday cake. Happy birthday to them!

Got wit?

Why am I lacking the gene that gives you wit-on-the-fly? Mine only shows up in the bathroom, days later. Or worse, four or five seconds past the time that a quip is allowable, forcing me to bite my tongue to avoid shouting a no longer welcome comeback at the departing person.

Yesterday I was leaving the grocery store with a bag of bread and creamer, and two jugs of milk. I had switched it all to one side so I could unlock the car, and a man passing me said, "That's impressive! Two gallons of milk in one hand, wow!" to which I very wittily replied, "hahaha, yeah, thanks!" I turned and plopped the milk down in the trunk, and the sound coincided with the mental forehead-slap I gave myself when I realized what I should have said: "Yeah, it does a body good!" I hope that man is a Husted blog fan so he can read this and see how clever I am... when given a few seconds to come up with something, that is.

Ran out of time!

My plan was to write a long and meaningful blog post, but it took so long to upload this picture of North Dakota, I have run out of time. The good news is that it worked!! We have remarked several times how happy we are that Dad took his trip up north when he did since they have had blizzards this week.
Dad and I just finnished putting some straw up in the loft of the barn using his new(old and rusted) piece of machinery that works like a conveyer. I stand below and load the bales, he stands in the loft and takes them off and stacks them. It really is a good system, but I am increasingly aware of the dangers of farm work. No wonder so many farmers are walking around with missing fingers, hands, arms.
I have spent about 5 minutes watching TV since the election. It is good to have this respite. I am considering asking our priest if we can chaperone a group of our highschool youth to D.C. for the pro life rally in January (a neighboring parish is sponsoring a trip). It would involve sleeping on the bus two nights and most likely on the floor of a convent another night. What do you think?
We are looking forward to the weekend in Crawfordsville!

how to write a smash hit

Here is a lesson on the creative process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M30g3In8ao&NR=1

(the hyperlink is fixed now.)

Optimism

Well, the election is finally over, and life can move on. The TV can be turned off. Oh wait, the kids are watching it right now, so that I could look something up... but I got tempted into checking the blog. Since no one else has made any comments, I'll leave a quick post. It was inspiring to see the happiness in Grant Park on TV. The normal tone of doom and gloom has been missing from the editorials in the paper this morning and yesterday. There would have been a sense of not just disappointment, but disenfranchisement had the outcome been different. I thought there might be some gloating at my writing class last night, but the tone was very optimistic, as well as reflective on the changes in the last 40 years (from the older members of the class.) The graciousness of McCain's concession speech was recognized, as well as the poignancy of the speeches from Chicago. Even though it's cloudy and rainy here, there does seem to be a lightness in the air, maybe from the collective sigh of relief that people can let go of some of their bitterness about the last election. Hopefully, the optimism will spill over into the economy.

Now the kids and I had better get back to learning about history, so we can continue to recognize it when it's being made!

Sugar Babies

This year's celebration of All Hallow's Eve has lasted an entire week, beginning with the CECOSC fall party last Sunday (Dan's chili won second prize), then the Cub Scout party on Monday night (James as the Sugar bag won for his den a gift card to Blockbuster), a little party at a friend's on Friday afternoon, trick or treating Friday night and ending today with the Harvest Party for our co-op (Joe won a prize for his Invisible Man get-up, and Dan again took 2nd for his chili). We have gotten full value for our costumes, on which we spent about $3 for James' Sandeman cup and Ben's rope. I threw away all Mary Janes, Sugar Babies, Dots, Now and Laters, Laffy Taffy, and most of the Tootsie Rolls. Sorry, neighbors, but I just spent over $200 on sealants, fillings, and a crown at the dentists' office last week. Each kid has authority over a generous 60 pieces of candy, and the rest I dumped into one of those canvas shopping bags, which is filled to the top, to be redistributed (Obama would approve) to Dan's office, co-op, CCD, and anyone else I can pawn it off on before I eat it all up myself. The dark chocolate Dove squares and Special Darks are in my vitamin stash since they prevent cancer and mothering meltdowns when consumed at 3pm.

At the soccer games Saturday, we relived the anti-Halloween argument, when one little girl told Annie and her fellow Catholic trick or treater, who were comparing the size of their haul, that "Jesus doesn't like Halloween." As I mentioned earlier, I considered the idea of opting out of Halloween; it's not hard to find articles written from a Puritan perspective pointing out its pagan origins and its current popularity with cults. However, considering the many pagan traditions our faith has baptized - Christmas trees, candles, sunrise Easter services - and since a lot of what Halloween is about comes from celebrations of All Saints and All Souls Day (begging for cakes, remembering the dead, scaring away evil spirits), and because I really enjoyed sitting out in the driveway sharing a bottle of blood red wine with a couple of neighbors while the dads followed the kids around, I have given up feeling guilty for the moment.
Some Photos:
Prizewinners:
Joe and friend James and friend:
I only carved one pumpkin this year. The rest are kid carved. Part of the trick or treating group (a couple other neighbors and the mermaid's little sister also joined in):
Claire as a princess instead of a Tart (but with lipstick):
Ralph Kramden and Jed Clampett ready for some fun:
An attempt to post video. The dangers of excess sugar consumption:

Well, it's been a while since I've contributed to this witty and intellectual group and alas, I can tell you this post will probably be neither witty nor intellectual. It WILL have some pictures, so give me credit for something! I am hoping I don' t mess this up by trying to download photos AND type little notes as well. I'm really not computer-challenged, but for some reason I just seem to make this harder than it should be!

First, you might have heard that Julia broke her arm a few weeks ago while playing on her swingset at home. She was a trooper and should be getting her cast off (hopefully) soon. She had everyone sign it (a little difficult with it being blue, although Daddy was quite proud that she chose that color. We wanted to paint a small yellow "M" on it but alas, her cast was already too full of names that you couldn't read...) Here is a photo of Daddy signing her cast.


A few weeks ago we went to Nana & Pop's house and the Duffy cousins were there. We took a walk, had a wonderful dinner, had some delicious apple cake and all the kiddos got ready for bed before the Duffy's headed home (Elizabeth and Joe were just returning from their quiet, romantic getaway):



Jake is now officially a Cub Scout (Tiger Cub...my bad). I've been taking him to his Den meetings but I've been sick this week so Seth took him last night. I could tell that Seth wasn't all that excited about hanging out with a bunch of overstimulated six year old boys, but when they walked into the house after the meeting they were both talking like crazy. They studied maps and Jake was close to earning a belt loop thing (how's that for technical?) and a compass patch. So Seth and Jake had it all "mapped out" on what Jake needed to do. It was really, really cute and Seth even told Jake he'd had fun. Maybe I will put him in charge of Brownies/Girl Scout duty if/when we are approached about it. :-)

It was pumpkin carving night at the Husted household on Wednesday. On our way back from Nana & Pop's a few weeks ago we stopped at a pumpkin patch and let the girls pick out pumpkins. Emma and Jake were on vacation with their Dad (they got a week off for Fall Break) so it was just the five of us. SO, we promised that the first Wed. they were all together we'd carve those bad boys (and girls). It was entertaining to say the least. I have a few photos of Seth putting the carving knife to his head but chose to leave those out lest any little people looking at this gets some new idea...don't want to stir up the whole "kill" blog again!

A flashback...here is a photo of those tie-dye shirts we did over the Summer. Better late than never, I guess.


















Signing off now. Will upload photos of our witches, sorcerers, goblins and demons later. Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

While we're on the subject of mini-tarts in Husted homes....

We finally had our first book club meeting, which went well and was very fun. In the morning, there were about 9 people coming, then by the afternoon it was down to 6. That actually worked out to be the perfect number discussion-wise, but we had way too much food because I had already purchased scones, bought cream cheese for pumpkin cheesecake mini-tarts, and emotionally invested in three kinds of adventurous, British-y finger sandwiches. So I made it all, and it made for a glorious spread, and for some glorious after-party feasting for John and me... although mostly for me, I have to admit.

The book discussion was also fun, and I'm looking forward to reviving it at the Christmas gathering, so everyone brush up on your Waugh before we get there. I thought picking a Catholic novel would be a good way to get a bunch of Catholic ladies into the idea, but as it turned out it did not ease discussion the way I thought it might. We all had a hard time sticking to the text because it was so easy to get off track, talking about faith/Catholicism in general rather than in regards to the book, and still feel like we were on topic. So that was probably my one complaint - not really a complaint by any means, just something that made us accomplish less book analysis than might have been done otherwise.

I loved the book, and want to talk about it with people! I think I might actually re-read it while it's still fresh. While we decide on our next pick, do you guys have any recent must-reads?

Continuing Education

I was just reading a "100 Best Words"-type book while I was dooing something else, and realized for the first time that averse and adverse are different words! I suppose I always thought they were different pronunciations/spellings of the same word - i.e., that one was wrong. And, having just misused one of them in a post below (whoever finds it gets the BlogNerd award!), it was a good time to learn the lesson.

It got chilly here (the kind where when you wake up, the cool pillow all around your head feels really good, but you're afraid to move off of the warm spot UNDER your head; also the kind where if you accidentally spray your jeans while moving your sprinkler your feet freeze when you go back inside... yes, I'm still watering). All that to say it's exciting Halloween weather, although I'm not sure what's supposed to happen in the next few days. I'm still not really any more excited about Halloween than anyone else on here sounds to be - wasn't it a much cooler holiday when you got to enjoy the candy and parties? Maybe my parents will be kind enough to throw yet another evening party for me and all my friends, complete with costume awards and a trash bag haunted house in the garage.

Party City

The Duffy kids are welcome to come over and kill our car. We were just getting ready to celebrate the fact that the GMC is a month away from being paid off when we had to spend $200 getting the steering column replaced. Bummer.

Today was the first of three fall events involving costumes. Luke looks adorably fierce in his Ninja suit, but we don't have any kids who are open to suggestions on costumes. Joe's idea was the easiest and most successful: The Invisible Man. Trench coat, gloves, Grandpa's old fedora and an ace bandage around the face. Cool and kind of scary. Ben wanted to be Indiana Jones, but he threw a fit because I trashed the one revolver we had last summer after Bosco chewed it up. None of the other 10 toy guns in the house would work. And having a whip and a knife AND a messenger bag and the perfect hat were not enough. So he pouted and didn't get candy at the party. James reused his Sugar box costume, but he wants to be the Sandeman man (looks like Zorro) for trick or treating. He's waiting for me to buy him a plastic wine glass. Annie was going to be Annie Oakley and wear the cowgirl outfit Mom picked up at Goodwill, but she got shy and took it off before anyone saw her. So much for getting dressed. John's outfit would've been easy: Seabee. Old shirt of Dad's, old hat, camo pants. Only the too large shirt bothered him so he whined to have it tucked in perfectly everytime. Claire, too, had opinions. She wanted to be a tramp, not a fairy princess. Every piece of costume jewelry, purse, boa, high heels, make -up. . . she wanted it all. The fact that her dress was too big and her boobies showed just completed the look. No photos; by the time the kids were ready, we were already late. I'm ready to quit Halloween, even if I don't have moral objections and want all the chocolate candy for myself.

In other news, we watched an interesting movie last night: "True Confessions." I think I thought I was getting "I Confess." This one had Robert Duvall as a homicide detective and someone else as his brother the monsignor. A gruesome crime is at the center of the plot, but the theme is the conflict between doing the right thing, ambition, and maintaining relationships. Compelling.

Manners

I started a new naptime technique that consists of escalating spanks for each time Luke gets out of bed. It has not worked. But it did yield the following conversation:

Me: Luke, you got out of bed again. Now you get four spanks.
Luke: No, thanks. I don't want any spanks. But thanks for offering them to me!

He's defiant, but at least he defies politely. Should that console me? It doesn't.

Charlie is getting to be fun. He has turned into some kind of sloth baby - he constantly wants to be held, but luckily he's old/strong enough to help hold himself up, so that he sits easily on my hip without too much involvement from me, which I like because I am lazy. He's starting to baby-talk, including a guttural sound that he makes that sounds like the middle of "hungry" (fittingly, this is his hungry noise) and a sound he made once that I'm pretty sure was the Platonic ideal of cute baby words: "Cooo-ey?"

Here's Luke's Halloween costume, in action.


Speaking of biblical ladyfolk, I had a Martha/Mary post working itself out in my head yesterday - something along the lines of shortcomings in fulfilling my vocation - but I kept weeding or such instead of stopping to write it down, and now it's gone. Even if it wasn't bound to be interesting, it seemed like it might be helpful to me, so maybe I'll try to think it up again.

New Skills

Some conversations this week:
Joe: Look Mom, I figured out how to polish these rocks! (He shows me a few of the pebble sized petosky stones he found at Lake Michigan.)
Me: Great, Joe. What did you use?
Joe: Ear wax!

Even though Elizabeth's kids already know about the birds and the bees, I haven't been so sure about the level of knowledge that our boys have, and I've been after Dan to cover the subject with them. At lunch Monday with all the kids, we shared the news of Lucy's death. James wondered if Nana and Pop were going to get a new dog. Dan said they might get one from Randy Cochran. Then one of the kids asked about Kenai having puppies, but I said she was too old, but that the cows were perhaps going to have calves. So mating came up:
James: I saw one of Pop's cows getting on top of the other cow and that's how Pop knew they might have babies.
Dan: Well, actually, James, there has to be a boy part and girl part. You know about sperm right? (uncomfortable squirming all around. Annie gets up and leaves.) The boy and girl parts have to get together to have a baby.
James: That's why the rooster gets on the chicken and does this (he imitates pecking the chicken.)
Dan: Actually, the sperm don't come from the beak but from the penis, but from a separate tube from the urine. And they go into the girl's parts. (The conversation immediately turns to the oddity of dog penises and the largeness of Art and Neal's.)
Later, on the porch, to me:
Dan: Look how easy that was! (He puts hands up for high fives.) I did it!
So I guess we've covered reproduction. James displayed his knowledge to Nana last night by asking about Pop's bull that was making the cows pregnant.

I just have to vent about our rough day:
1. I rushed all the kids out the door to get to the dentist at 8am, only to find out the appt is next week.
2. I got a call from Mobile Meals reminding me that today was our day, so I threw all the kids and some snacks in the car and was late delivering meals, so consequently,
3. We were late to piano lessons.
4. Claire left her shorts at the library. (She was wearing a bloomer thing over which I meant to put the shorts, but she wanted to carry them.)
5. Got to the Y and the I-zone worker was late, so I had to wait around for more than half an hour to drop off the kids, and I argued with the front desk people about what time it opened.
6. I was honest with the Child Watch lady and told her that Claire had had MRSA and the doctor suggested wiping everything down with Clorox wipes. About 20 mins into my workout, the manager came to tell me Claire couldn't stay until she had a dr's clearance on file since she had had a communicable disease. (I wouldn't be surprised if she got the infection at the Y, although Dan blames the squirrel.)
7. Elizabeth bailed out on her offer to visit me, preferring to hang out in her hotel room near DC. Well, guess what, Liz, I'm having a great time blogging at 11 pm, instead of cleaning up for you.

The highlight of the day, and a bright highlight it was, was arriving home to a box from some wonderful friends who had been stationed in Italy with all the makings for a fancy pasta dinner, including an enormous block of parmigiano, a box of wine, and Nutella for dessert. They also sent back a book on Ronald Reagan that Dan had loaned, and a copy of Obama's Audacity of Hope. What an appetizing way to campaign! If only all political advertisements came wrapped with a gourmet dinner! Or at least a chocolate bar.

Action

I promised my husband when I started my writing class that I would only blog once a week. And look, I miss the momentous news that Lucy has passed on! We have had a few losses amongst those near to us: First our good friends lost an in utero baby and their 13 yr old lab, a lady on our Mobile Meals route passed away, and now Lucy (and Kio). Resquiat in pace.

So now that I've spent an hour reading everyone else's entries and following links, I'll weigh in. We've just finished a wonderful weeklong visit with Gram and Pop Cook. Visited a few museums (with Flat Stanley, who will be moving on finally, after this trip to the beach where John found a hermit crab, now a member of our menagerie, aka Hermie), enjoyed great soccer weather, consumed a lot of good food, good wine, and good chocolate. Gram brought some delicious Black Gold Chocolate Espresso Bars and Chocolate Covered Pringle's chips (yum) made by Oklahoman artisanal chocolatiers Bedre. If you can find it, Southwesterners, pick some up. I have to say, that after a taste test, it's notably better than Godiva.

But the real event of the week is the advent of the video game age at the VA Cook house. Gram and Pop generously gave the kids a Wii as an early Christmas present.
Although, as most of you know, I am not a fan of video games, I relented on my banishment of them, based on the assumption that Wii provides a form of physical activity and because I'm afraid of stigmatizing my homeschoolers. I have happily discovered that Wii is an entertaining family game, great for parties. The best part is creating your alter ego Mii, although Dan and I did some after hours editing of some of the kids' creations: gone are a couple of multiple aliens, "Wird*o," and changed is the name of "Mugster," one of two African Americans, to "Rapster." (Even though my children are educated in a homogeneous environment, they have also, without prompting, created friendly Miis of Hispanic background, various ages and genders, and other cultures, like Caveman. Oops, that was my husband's alter Mii...) Y'all will be happy to know also that they are in the process of creating all the extended family members, too, so when they play baseball, they can have their aunts, uncles, and cousins on their teams.

In other news, our case of MRSA was confirmed. Tomorrow we find out if it is completely gone at a recheck. After reading about 5 confirmed cased treated at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital, involving amputation of an arm and treatment of necrotizing fascitis, I'm grateful our case wasn't worse!

Musings

I thought that perhaps I should put your minds at rest regarding Dad's retirement. The first morning of his retirement, he got up early, put on the coffee pot, came in and woke me up and suggested we go to 7:30am mass, which we did, and then came home to "ease into the morning" together. It was a wonderful beginning! The conversation that Elizabeth shared did indeed take place, and perhaps even deteriorated before it got better. It was a tough day. Dad had his second MOHS procedure, this time on his temple (PLEASE USE YOUR SUNSCREEN!), we had just spent 6 hours in the doctor's office and left tired and hungry. We were trying to find a restaurant that Dad thought I would like, but I was driving, the area was unfamiliar, we made several wrong turns, and patience was running low on both sides. Sooo, it could only go up from there! We have hardly had a chance to reflect on the "change in status" because we have both been very busy. I will attempt to get him on the blog so that you can hear from him, but since he retired, he has spent a full day at the boys camp sawing and hauling wood, had two more cows artificially inseminated, worked hard around here, planned a hunting trip, gone to dinner at Aunt Anne's and visit with Grandma Margaret, babysat with the Duffy's (I double booked myself and he chose watching Andy and Janie over working at the church rummage sale!), played golf, and much more. The best part is that he is here to enjoy the beautiful fall that is unfolding and we do "ease into the morning" together most mornings!
I have really enjoyed the conversations on the blog these last few days and have my own opinions that I would like to contribute. However, I will simply share a couple of remarks from a couple of letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal ( I will confess that my favorite parts of the Journal are the editorial page with the accompanying letters and the "Personal" section). These letters were responses to a prior article written by a critical alum from an all female university. Here are the quotes of note: "I am a Tufts female graduate, old enough to proudly identify as a feminist and the parent of a 2008 graduate young enough to believe she doesn't have to identify as a feminist". The other quote is funny! "Let me get this straight: To highlight the shocking new development of women being unkind to other women who do not adhere to their preferred norms, you publish an essay by a young woman in which she is unkind to other women who do not adhere to her preferred norms. Perhaps the Journal should refrain from giving a platform to "mean girls" of any stripe". Any way, I thought the quotes were relevant to some of the remarks of late.
I have shared with you some of the information that Father Matthew VonSmoorenburg has given in his parenting series. He is very well informed about the differences between boys and girls, how their brains develop differently, the different ways in which they learn, the origin of their responses to their environment, the importance of identifying with the same sex parent, etc.etc..One of the books that he has used as a resource is WHY GENDER MATTERS. One of the recommendations is for same sex classrooms/schools...that both genders benefit from this separation and the resulting capacity to optimize teaching methods accordingly. What I am impressed by, however, is the thoughtfullness of all of your reflections/comments. You are wonderful parents!

Two Big Changes Which Heretofore I Had Been Reluctant To Effect

ONE
Car in garage
I've always been against becoming the kind of family that keeps everything but their cars in the garage. However, I was starting to despair as to my ability to keep that from happening. But we sold a couple things and I squished the rest over into the other half, swept it out, and pulled the car in. Am I silly or smart for blurring out our license plate?

TWO
Our new pets: Pio (orange tetra), Kio (striped tetra), and Ink (fiddler crab). Luke's a fan. I love the crab. I love watching him eat, scooping up his fish flakes with his deformo claw and protecting his meal with the big claw. I don't know how long they'll last, nor how obligated I'll feel to replace them when they die. I think I'm a two-week pet kind of person. At least this one won't poo in my gardens or dig up my rosemary.

They're all named by Luke. No, Pio is not named for Padre. I'm still not the 'saints as pets' type. Actually, the second day we had them, Luke asked me where "Car-kio" had gone, which made me realize that probably Kio was actually "Key-o," as in what was hanging on the wall across from Luke when he was naming the fish the day before. Oh, well, it's a better name for something with a few weeks' lifespan than his first suggestion - "Charlie."

Also, here is the beginning of my Mary garden.

I need to connect all the roses into a bed, and I'll plant some bulbs in the next few weeks. I still need to get a bench, but maybe that will be a Christmas purchase. Anyway, I'm pretty excited, if for nothing else than a pretty place to sit in the yard.

Emily/Dan, I'm glad you got my point (carefully disguised as it was by tangential ranting)... I've had severe blogger's regret for the past 24 hours. I'd like to think I was half asleep, but at the very least I was distracted by a whiny toddler at my elbow and no coffee in my hand. Oh, well, that's why I leave the real blogging to Betty D - I should just stick to kid stories and pictures.

But anyway, yes, that's what I meant. How do we respond to a politician with whom we disagree? By booting them out at the next election. How do we respond to a celeb? ???? By blogging, I guess was my point, to at least get your voice out there, even if only Mimi will hear it. (Hi, Mimi!) If everyone else shares their opinions, why not us? :) And not that it even makes us famous, just that we don't have to feel narcissistic for doing it because... well, because everybody's doing it.



Okay, so it's not that great of a point, even if I had been more clear in getting it across the first time.

Celebs and Blogs

So while I was sprinkling some rosemary (fresh) and parsley (dried, and from approximately the time of Cleopatra) on potatoes last night, I was thinking about blogging.

Is it the trend that it currently is not because of rampant narcissism (although that's an easy argument to make) but because of the need to respond to a glut of information? And not even good information - what I was thinking about is how you can't view TV or a newspaper without catching a glimpse of some inane star spewing their views for the rest of us, as if their ideas matter now because they were in, say, Ya-Ya Sisterhood. If any famous face with a camera can get her opinion out to the entire world, why shouldn't the little people, too? And we can, on a blog.

Those of us who are not famous - because our daily routines consist of cooking potatoes instead of making movies - have ideas, too. And, for the most part, I would have to argue that our ideas are more firmly rooted in the real world than those that come out of more stylish heads. So why shouldn't we also have a forum to share our thoughts? I can listen to a politician with whom I vehemently disagree, and while I may get a little riled, it never makes me want to stand up and shout (read: sit down and type) the truth like when I hear a celebrity tell us how to think, or even worse, to deride the side that disagrees as idiotic, uninformed, and self-destructive. Those who hold power, or aspire to it, in our country have every right to enter the public discussion. But those who have attained mere visibility ought to keep their pretty mouths shut, since they honestly do not know what they're talking about, and sadly, hold more power of influence than the people who do.

I'm not really liking how this is sounding typed out - a little bitter and somewhat fascist. !!! It's not - I just get annoyed that celebrities assume that their opinion ought to hold such weight in our society. I think it's a misuse of their fame, and that it only supports and expands our shallow celebrity culture.

Flat Stanley

A busy weekend - Flat Stanley has had some adventures finally! Although it crossed my mind to cut off the horns and what looked like a pile of doo-doo that Daniel added to the picture, we left him intact with all his glory as he played soccer,

went to church,













visited a marina,




and saw some ships on the Navy base.









A big happy birthday to Dad! Sorry cards are late - since you were busy hanging out with LCI's at Notre Dame, you probably don't mind.

A project I wasted a couple of hours on the other day: Collecting images of reading women. In a moment of weakness, I bought this datebook at TJ Maxx the other day with pictures of woman and books. What was I thinking? I had seen it while out with Mikko and then kept thinking about it. Remember the calendar Aunt Mardena and Aunt Leslie competed for at the Christmas exchange? Same publisher. But I never use a datebook. Little scraps of paper work much better for me. So instead I sent the book back and found those pics online plus more for my own little art museum. I would paste one here, but I can't figure out how to do it.
A parting shot of Claire's infected spider bite. You wouldn't believe how much pus came out of this spot. Then Mom shared the story about her friend who died from an infected splinter.

La Vida Loca en Tejas (I said 'loca' b/c I couldn't remember the word for 'fast food')

That was my quarter-hearted attempt at Spanish, since we have an aspiring bi-linguist in the house... that's Luke, by the way. I had my chance at bi-lingualism and decided (for better or worse) I just didn't care that much about Spanish. And even if I had retained any high school Latin, I don't think that counts - doesn't a "second language" have to be living?

Anyway, Luke has entered a stage where he loves to make up words and names for everything. Now that he found out about the existence of Spanish, he says that his imaginary words are what "should be" the words in Spanish.

Today, after telling me that "Kakaríko" (looks like Zelda but sounded Spanish; I don't know how else to spell it) should be the Spanish word for 'car,' we had the following conversation:

"Mom, can we go to Spanish?"

"You mean can we go somewhere where they speak Spanish? Yes, that would be fun. They speak Spanish in a country called Mexico. And in another country called Spain, and in some other countries."

"Yeah, and in Taco Bell."

Further revealing my overdependence on fast food was the day we were getting something at my Mom's. "Are we going in?" Luke asked. "No," I replied, "just picking up something quickly." "Yeah," he said knowingly, "we're just doing the drive-thru."

HOWEVER, our Taco Friend did grant Luke one small piece of elegance (albeit the kind reserved for lovable supreme nerds). On another day (another drive-through) we pulled up to Taco Bell - where we like to get pintos 'n' cheese that comes with a little plastic spork - and Luke immediately shouted his order from the back: "Beans, please! Beans and a runcible spoon!"

Books and Planes

Everyone must be so busy reading facebook that they aren't posting here . . . Elizabeth may be allowed the excuse that since she has gestational diabetes now, she has to spend more time in food preparation: salads take a long time to make. But where is everyone else?

Last night I finished Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, and it left me feeling terribly sad. What misleading jacket blurbs. It did have some funny episodes, but the ending is full of irony. Maybe I'm reading it wrongly, but it seems the Little Seamstress is duped and misses the point of the books she hears. The author ends up agreeing with the Communists in a way that great literature is subversive; enlightening,but not in a liberating way. It's possible I'm idealizing the life of the mountain that the Little Seamstress leaves behind after she is introduced to western concepts and becomes disenchanted. Meanwhile the two city boys want nothing more than to get back to their home in the city, even though they, and, perhaps worse, their parents, are persecuted there. Has anyone read any Balzac? I read Pere Goriot and found it dull; do I need to try again?

Today I had to make a choice. I could have taken the kids to the Chesapeake Heritage Arts Fest, a small gathering with sheep shearing demos, bluegrass music, and a tent filled with mostly church bazaar tschotke, but also a few really beautiful handcrafts: quilts, weaving, handmade soaps, knitted goods, etc. We went last year and the highlights for the kids were the jumping mule, the guinea pig rescue lady, and rolling down the hill. My other option (aside from staying home and doing laundry) was going to the Oceana Air Show, which Joe wanted to attend. In the spirit of adventure, and with a sense that we aren't going to be in a major military area next year (unless we're sent to DC), and because we're studying modern history this year, and because the neighbors were going, and because Mom gives me a hard time about making sure the boys aren't over-mothered, we headed for the planes. A long drive, then a long bus ride (always exciting for home schooled children), then a long walk, and we were finally there. The display was pretty impressive: Lots of old planes, new planes, fancy planes, cargo planes you could tour. I can't seem to keep straight the different kinds of planes, but don't really try to. There were also lots of sponsor tents with free stuff. And lots of overpriced food tents. And lots of people and lots of noise. John nearly melted down completely from noise of the jets' flybys, but he finally settled down when he found a plane with a rhino knight on it. We watched from sky divers from afar, a little old fashioned one man plane that performed stunts about as breath taking as any, a rigged up cargo plane and the Blue Angels. Truly a testimony to the audacity of the human spirit. And to the age-old desire for thrills and chills and other adrenalin boosts. But after a really LOOOONNNG walk (we missed the bus), and a long wait to exit the base, I wondered if maybe I shouldn't have opted for farm animals. Or laundry. Well, I'm thankful it was a beautiful day, and we were outside for most of it. And I'm thankful that the kids will have a story to tell Dad when he gets home and a story to add to their saga of bonding myths about how much their mother made them walk without buying them any sugary foods or sodas or souvenirs. And I'm thankful that when I walked the dog after dinner while the kids watched Andy Griffith, I found a couple of shrubs, yaupon hollies, I think, that someone had dug up and thrown out at the curb. I plan to replace the third bush (this time a rhododendron) that Bosco has killed by peeing on it. Here's to hoping they recover from the stress of the move and survive being tinkled on!