Celebrating the Liturgical Year

This is just a quick post before I'm off to Mass...
My 12 year old daughter is longing to do more around the house, but not necessarily chores.  So, my husband and I have put her in charge of organizing and planning a better celebration and understanding of the liturgical year.  So far, the fruits have been beautiful.
One thing we opted to do is purchase tablecloths in all the colors of the liturgical year.  I have an extremely long dining room table and thought it would be SOOOOO expensive.  It wasn't.  I went to www.linentablecloth.com and picked up all the colors, plus blue for Marian feast days for $45.  They offer free shipping.  Can you believe it?  I haven't received them yet, so I can't attest to the quality.  The other thing I did was purchase 6 yards of clear vinyl.  I will cut that in half. That will go over the actual table cloth.  Instead of having to shake the tablecloth after every meal, we can swipe it clean with a cloth or sponge. It's just easier.  I think I paid $2 a yard for fairly thick clear vinyl.
I put her to this task on Monday.  On Friday, we celebrated St. Scholastica.  Yesterday, we celebrated Our Lady of Lourdes.  Thanks to books like Cooking With the Saints, My Nameday: Come for Dessert and websites like Catholic Cuisine, it has been all my daughter has been able to think about outside of school.
I'll post back when I get the tablecloths to report on the quality.

For all the sesquipedalians out there...

I hope you all enjoy this as much as my family did, word nerds that we are!

The Death of Pretty

I'm extremely conservative, especially when it comes to fashion.  I also mourn The Death of Pretty. 

I understand it though, and see society's affects even on the Catholic Homeschool Girl.  Not mine, mind you.  She hasn't hit that milestone yet. 

But, I'm bothered when I see Catholic Homeschooled Girls as they pass puberty pitching pretty in favor of Hot.   I remember seeing one girl in particular, who the year before was this very pretty preteen.  Somewhere, she blossomed if you know what I mean.  She turned up in a tight pair of jeggings, knee-high, black high-heeled boots with a snug fitting v-neck sweater.  She had on eyeliner, blush, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick (or deeply colored lip gloss).  She looked like a model out of Victoria Secrets.  While stunning, what hit me was she was no long pretty.  She was hot.  I was thankful that my sons were not there.

I see it with other girls, too.  I know this isn't coming from their moms.  I know their moms and some of them are great friends of mine who have shared the same concerns.  So, all I can guess is that it is society.  And, listen up Feminists.  It's not men's fault.  Here's what hit me over the head the hardest in the article:

Of course men play a role in this as well, but women should know better and they once did.  Once upon a time you would hear girls talk about kind of women men date and the kind they marry.  You don’t hear things like that anymore.
But here is the real truth.  Most men prefer pretty over hot.  Even back in 6th grade I hated the “hot” Olivia Newton John and felt sorry for her that she had to debase herself in such a way.  Still do.
Our problem is that society doesn’t value innocence anymore, real or imagined.  Nobody aspires to innocence anymore.  Nobody wants to be thought of as innocent, the good girl.  They want to be hot, not pretty.
I still hope that pretty comes back, although I think it not likely any time soon.  For every Taylor Swift, there are a hundred Megan Foxs, or Lindsay Lohans, or Miley Cyruses etc.
Girls, please, bring back the pretty.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/the-death-of-pretty#ixzz1iElPiZQS

Here is a modesty video that discusses the Catholic Church's stance on modesty:

Here’s a survey of young men, rating how women’s dress affects them.

Reflections on a New Year...

I hope you find this as funny as I do!

An time is marching on....

Miracles

I got a call from Mr. Wonderful's gastroenterologist.  Mr. Wonderful is fine!!!  The biopsy was negative for Crohn's Disease.  The GI doc had seen inflammation consistent with Crohn's disease.  However, the biopsy was negative.  Did you hear that?  Negative!!!  So, I am thrilled.  However, we still haven't solved anything with regard to his failure-to-thrive.  But, I'm okay with taking a break before we pursue any other tests.

What a great Christmas gift!

Cooking should take my mind off it, right?

Meet Mr. Wonderful, my amazing 4 year old son.

We're back from Mr. Wonderful's colonoscopy and endoscopy.  More on that in a bit.

Are you like me?  Does the act of cooking, the creative act of throwing this and that together to make something delicious, takes you to another place?  This is the time of year I HAVE to bake.  Baking is not only one of my families most important traditions, it has the wonderful side effect providing nutrition (come on, even cookies have SOME nutrition).  I bake when I need to process.  So, that's on my agenda today.

Here's the list of things we're making this Christmas season:
UPDATE:  Those things that are finished have an X by them (12/20/2011)
X Artisan Bread (gifts for my hubby's bosses and co-workers and our neighbors)
x Schoenstatt Sugar Cookie Shrines
X Rice Krispie ornaments
X Sunbutter Cups (think Reese's without the peanut butter...using sunbutter instead)
Krumkake
GF/Dairy Free/Egg Free Pepperment Meltaway cookies
X  Corn Flake wreaths
X Church windows
X Graham Cracker Houses (see pictures here)
X GF Gingerbread Cookies
Date Filled Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

This is a really ambitious list, but it's the one time of year I'm guaranteed to bake, I need to process and my kids need the time with me.  The girls help and the boys linger, looking for beaters to lick and scraps to taste. So that's not bad, at all.

But mostly I need to process.  During Mr. Wonderful's colonoscopy, I slipped into the bathroom.  When I came out, the Dr. was waiting for me.  I didn't like the look in his eyes.  He HAD found some areas of concern that would explain failure to thrive.  I'm waiting for more lab results and a consultation on Thursday.  He was adamant we come in this week.  In the mean time, Mr. Wonderful was the model patient and he won over the nurses with his charming smile and big blue eyes. He won me over day one with those, so it's no surprise he's won more hearts.

So I'm processing the possibilities of a diagnosis I didn't want to get.  I'm processing the fact he inherited the possible condition from me.  I'm processing life with more changes.  Excuse me while I go cook.

Sometimes I hate being the Mom

My four year old, with allergies and failure to thrive, gets to have a colonoscopy and EGD tomorrow.  Please pray for both of us.

But, that is not the worst of it.  The worst of it is being the mom, coaching a 31 lb kid through drinking 32 ounces of Gatorade mixed with 1/2 a bottle of Miralax.  He's supposed to down 8 oz. every 15 minutes.  The first 8 ounces went down in 40 minutes.  He struggled, gagging after each drink.  I gave him spit breaks (rinsing and spitting helps the need to vomit) in between drinks.  At this rate, with 15 minute breaks in between each 8 ounce session, we'll be done by 9:00.  It was only supposed to take an hour and 15 minutes.  Oh well.

I sent the rest of the clan off to see the Holidazzle parade so I can focus on him only.  Please pray for both of us, that we get through it without too many tears.  We haven't even begun the purging (the result of drinking the Miralax/Gatorade) yet.
UPDATE:  After throwing up three times and still having 8 oz. to finish at 9:30pm, I finally called the doctor.  He told me to be done, put him to bed and he'd see me in the morning.  My little guy was such a trooper.  Through it all, he never refused to drink even though it made him gag and shudder.  He was so brave.  The doctor admitted to me that they can't predict how much solution a child will need.  That at some point you may be done before the solution is all gone.  He was right.  WE were done!