What I Wore Sunday: Sadie's Communion Dash Edition

Today we went to an ordinary form Mass.  It is close enough that we can easily walk and we're particularly fortunate because not only do we have a EF Mass down the road, but we have a marvelously reverent OF Mass that I enjoyed attending immensely.  I was hoping it would help get the wiggles out of the little ones (okay, really out of the middle one!).  And it did.  I put her in the carrier when we got to the church and she slept until after communion.

There was incense, but Patrick seemed unaffected, with the exception of his eczema blossoming across his little face as he slept.  I think the fact that the ceiling is much higher in this church (it's like a normal ceiling in the crypt) helped quite a bit.

You may be unsurprised to know that in a particularly bold move Sadie tried to step away from me in the communion line and stuck out her little tongue in her 157th attempt at tricking the priest into receiving.  I made a sort of reaching move to block her mouth as the priest smiled in a way that made me think he was probably laughing on the inside too, and blessed her.  

Now for the outfits.  I'll start with the littlest:

Patrick is spending most of his time these days in 18 month sleepers.  I can hardly believe he's already in them, length wise, but they're definitely a clothes saver with the twice a day vaseline/crisco treatments.  I don't want vaseline and crisco all over everything and the sleepers contain the mess.  Still, on Sunday's I risk his non-sleeper clothes and he gets dressed up (which is relative I guess).

First I was pleased that these pants, which like the rest of his outfit are from the baby second hand store, had adjustable elastic in the waist.  Otherwise there's no way they would have stayed in place.

Sadie helped by sitting next to his head and forming his hair into a vaseline and crisco mohawk.  She wore a hand me down size 10 dress that she fits into (amazingly... she isn't a size 10!) and a cardigan from the second hand store:

He seems to like his sister-styled hair:

Then it was time to wrestle him into his shirt and shoes and he was ready to go:

Mae acts like getting out of her pajamas is some sort of a tragedy.  It got worse when her sister tried to hug her to take a "sisters" picture.  She wore a dress that the Baroness gave her, a sweater that her sister agreed to lend her, hand me down leggings and her new Payless sandals.  She also wore a frown while we were getting ready that was all her own.

On the bright side, no one was pinched in the taking of this picture and that really is something.

Here are Patrick and Daddy at the park after Mass.

And here's Patrick and Daddy at the very end of Mass.  My camera took a long time to take the picture and Daddy was done smiling:

Here we are on the walk home.  Yes, Mae has a leash on.  No, I'm not ashamed of it.

If you had a Mae you would have a leash too.

If you have a "Mae" you understand.

And finally my outfit for What I Wore Sunday!

After seeing this picture I'm not really sure how I feel about this dress when I'm not pregnant.  It is a maternity dress (from Target), but I never felt like it was strictly a maternity dress.  But now I'm not sure.  It might go into the maternity box... The shrug is from JCPenny's clearance wrack.  The shoes are little girls shoes from Walmart.  My almost-every-week black belt is around my waist.  And the scarf which is wrapped kind of like a tichel, was my grandmothers.  Oh and I was wearing a necklace, but Mae, who I wore for all of Mass (and who was oh so thankfully asleep) broke it when we were walking out the door:

Now I'm marveling at the fact that I need to start making dinner.  Where did this day go to?  How is it 4:44 here?

For more outfits head over to the link up at Fine Linen and Purple!

The "Princess Ballerina"

Yup, she picked her own tutu out and got herself dressed for her ballet class.

And I just had to share:

Sadie's Saturday Morning Nun Talk: Volume 1

There's so much nun talk in this house that I've been thinking of writing a weekly post about it.  Maybe someday I'll print them all out for Sadie when she's older and she can laugh at the cuteness of her four year old self.

I've been working on this particular post for the past two days.  I wrote down the conversations the day we had them... but the rest, my thoughts on her passion on this subject have been rolling around in my head for days.  I finally began to form them on paper this morning:

A few nights ago after prayers Sadie knelt next to Patrick and showed him the nativity toy sets backdrop and pointed to the town and said:  "This is Bethlehem, Patrick.  This is where baby Jesus was born."  Then she launched into her usually nun talk and I began to think that her the frequency of these conversations is kind of how some kids are about dinosaurs.  As I listened to her words as she bent over him, close to his ear and went on.

"When I grow up I'm going to be a nun, Patrick.  A Carmelite nun.  And you're going to be a Bishop.  And you're going to work in the cathedral.  And I will be a nun and you will be a bishop and work in the cathedral.  Did you know that Patrick?  Do you now what a cathedral is Patrick?"

I lay back on the couch, enjoying the brief break while Patrick watched his sister entranced (Mae Bae was being put down for bed by Paul), and listening to their little one sided conversation.

"Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Patrick.  And he died and he rose again from the dead Patrick.  And then you were born.  Mommy what kind of nun can Maggie be?"  Suddenly her attention was back to questioning me.  "Can Maggie be the kind of nun that Saint Bernadette was Mommy?  Maggie can be a Saint Bernadette nun.  And I can be a Carmelite nun like Mary Therese.  I want to be a tall nun.  I want to be big like Mary Therese's mother was." Apparently she was envisioning the book we'd read earlier in the day, where Saint Therese is a very little girl and her mother is still alive.  "What was her mother's name?  I want to be a grown up nun.  Can I be a nun?  If I pray very hard?  Can my friend Lucy be a nun?  What kind of a nun should she be?  Maybe a Poor Claire?  Yes a Poor Claire!  Patrick, did you know that different nuns have different habits.  Some nuns have blue habits, Patrick.  Some even have pink!"  Her monologues amaze me as she assigns every child she's ever met with a religious order and she began naming kids we haven't seen in months and wondering aloud what type of vocation they might have.

I thought back to the conversation we'd had a bit earlier, after we'd prayed the family rosary.  She'd cuddled up to me and said:  "Mommy, do you remember that day when we were in the car and we drove and drove?  And I prayed so hard.  Do you think I prayed enough to enter into Carmel?  Dear God, remember that day when I prayed and prayed so much?  Please make me a Carmelite nun.  Hail Mary, full of grace, the lord is with thee..."

And the other conversation I'd overheard when she'd tackled Daddy and said something along the lines of:  "You be the bishop so that you can say that the little four year old girl named Sadie can enter into Carmel and be a Carmelite nun and a saint."

"I want a face like a nun..." She lamented at another time on the same day.  "My face doesn't look like a nun's."  She continued, bringing her hands up and touching her cheeks.  "It looks... It looks... It looks..." she paused dramatically.
"Like a little girl's?"  I offered.
"Yes!"  She replied emphatically.  "Like a little girls.  I want it to look like a nun's."
"What does a nun's face look like then?"  I asked her.
"Familiar."
"Familiar?"
"Yes.  A nun's face is familiar."

After Sadie went up to bed I cleaned up the house and began to think over the days conversations.  For two years she's been talking about being a nun and while this may surprise some of my readers, the fact is that we've been very careful whenever the conversations come up.  I never wanted to be too over enthusiastic, lest I somehow push her towards one vocation over another.  I've always been supportive of whatever she says, but I've always felt like I have to hold back somehow when she goes on and on about being a nun.

As I picked up toys and swept the floor I thought of how I'd act when she occasionally says: "I want to be a ballerina today!" or "I want to be a baby doctor that helps little babies who get sick when they eat things like Patrick!"  I don't feel like I need to hold back at all in this conversations, because I don't worry about being too pushy, either in reality or appearance.

And I began to ask myself if I would hold back my enthusiasm because I'm afraid of "pushing her" about any other dream she might have and in all honesty knew that the answer was no.

From now on, I'm not going to hold back my enthusiasm when the conversation comes up.  My answer will be the same as it has been, because it's the right answer.

When she talks about becoming a nun I always say:  "If that's what God's calling you to be when you grow up, then that's what you should be!" but from now on I'm going to giggle with her about her grand dreams of being a nun and loving God without worrying about whether she's being pushed in one direction or another.  Because honestly, if she is being drawn in a certain direction, it's not by us.  We haven't pushed.  We've sat back and watched.  And maybe it is just a childhood interest that will fade with time or maybe she hears some small whisper in her heart. And I'm not going to interfere with that possibility.

We have books about saints and books about princesses and books about ballerinas and dinosaurs and pretty much any little kid related topic you can think of.  And she's the one that's been asking, since before she turned three, to be a nun.

You see, her father and I, both want one thing for our children.  Sure it's a little different from what the world tells us we should want, but anyone who's hung around here for long can hardly be surprised by that.  We want for them what we want for everyone in this world.  It's the only thing really worth wanting.  We want them to become saints.  And we know that they'll do that by finding the vocation that God is calling them too.  I'm not worried about pushing her, when I really think about it, because I want her to grow into whatever God is planning for her.  I will be thrilled if she prayerfully discerns her future and listens to God's voice as she moves forward through life, because really, can I dream of anything greater, regardless of where it takes her?

I don't want her to be a nun.  I want her to seek out God's plans for her life.  If that means she sometimes is called to life in a convent, I will be thrilled (and a little sad, because I'll miss her like crazy and it tugs at my heart every time she says: "I want to go away and pray for the world.").  If he calls her elsewhere I'll also be thrilled.  My job is to help her grow into a person who listens to his voice and to storm heaven with prayers that she does so throughout her life.

I guess when it comes down to it, I need to stop worrying so much that other people will think we're pushing her and just share her enthusiasm in life and encourage this interest as I would any other. At the moment she wants to know everything there is about the various orders of nuns.  So it's my job to help her find that information and read it to her and sit and dream with her, just like I do when she hands be a book about ballet or bugs... and my new promise is to stop worrying so much about what people might dream up because of her ramblings about her dreams, and just be her mom, supporting her passions and praying that she grows up to be a Godly young woman.

7 Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

Last night on the news they reported that a new law might soon be past that would require restaurants in our little city to allow dogs to eat in their patio dining areas.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Restaurants would be legally required to allow dogs in outdoor dining areas.

So....  It's okay to ban children from restaurants (and actually that doesn't really upset me.  I'd rather know if a restaurant doesn't want kids there, so that we don't accidentally stumble into a place that really doesn't want us there... signs are helpful...), but dogs have a legal right to be there?

Sometimes I feel like I live in a topsy turvy world.

--- 2 ---

I caught Sadie heckling a squirrel the other day.  She was standing at the window yelling something like "Hey squirrel, get out of our yard" and then went around the other side of the house to continue to give that squirrel a piece of her mind, with "Hey squirrel!!!  Can you hear me?!?!?!"  Can you hear me?!?!?!"

I think this is from the whole There-Was-A-Squirrel-On-Mae-Bae's-Bed incident...  it didn't give her warm fuzzies about squirrels...

Here she is squeezing into her sisters dress
and running around the house...

--- 3 ---

A Patrick Smile for a business
standing up to the HHS mandate!

Today I'm going food shopping and I'm keeping my eyes open for a new food company who our family will definitely be supporting.  Eden Food's is fighting the HHS mandate. They're getting slammed by the media and by those on their facebook page who believe that saying that people should finance their own contraceptive choices is "an attack on women."

My personal favorite comment was the one where a self proclaimed "upscale progressive liberal" told the company how stupid they were to do this since everyone knows that only "upscale progressive liberals" buy organic food.  Apparently us conservatives, or people who worry about the impact of dumping estrogen into the water supply, or folks with religious beliefs, that don't allow contraception (who also don't want to fund something we believe is illegal) are too stupid to think much about what we put into our bodies.

The silliness is overwhelming sometimes.

My favorite part about Eden Food's is that they sell BPA free canned beans.  That alone would earn my devotion.  You see, beans are a staple here, and I like to have canned beans around for those times when I don't have time to soak them and cook them for hours.  And if your thinking to yourselves: "I don't know if anyplace near me sells Eden Foods" just click here.  We're surrounded by stores that sell them and I bet there's a good chance that you are too!
 
  

--- 4 ---

Okay, I wrote the first two Quick Takes last night before I got too sleepy.

I woke up this morning to see that a friend had just lost a little one and my heart is breaking for her and her family this morning.  If you could say a prayer this morning it would be greatly appreciated.  I know how much prayers helped pull me through when we lost our little one...

--- 5 ---

I don't usually share a ton of fundraising pages, but there are two this morning that I want to spread the word about from friends who would appreciate any help you can spare (even if it's a prayer!).  I'd personally vouch for either family, if you're in the least bit hesitant:

One of my friends is raising funds to buy an iPad for her daughter Natalie.  Natalie was diagnosed with partial Trisomy 13 when she was 9 months old and the iPad has programs that would allow her to communicate much more clearly than she can communicate now.  From the funding page:

"We know from pointing and following verbal directions that she understand a great deal, but in unable to convey emotions or more complex thoughts or desires outside of what she can point to or direct us toward (she will take up by the hand and drag us to the puzzle shelf, the pantry, or the back door to play outside). We began looking into communication systems after talking with her speech therapist. They are using a classroom communication device during speech therapy and seeing progress. However, for at home use, we do not have a device, and want to get Natalie a tablet with a speech program so that she has nearly limitless options, and so it is portable and easy for her to use (as opposed to the heavy, low-tech items used in her classrooms).  

We witness her frustration daily, which comes in the form of crying and tantrums when she simply cannot communicate her desires and emotions. We have been blessed with the gift of a specialized speech application for iPad that comes loaded with 11,000 words, and has the ability to add an unlimited number of custom words. However, we do not have an iPad on which to use the application."  Read more here.  Facebook page here.

This is an awesome, awesome family who has been through so much this year and any help anyone can give will be greatly appreciated!  

--- 6 ---

Kara from Catholic Kara is hosting an awesome giveaway.  She's raising funds to bring home Colton and you can get entries for the Colton's Happiest Place Giveaway by donating or by sharing the giveaway on social media.

And it's a pretty awesome giveaway.  First prize is four Park Hopper passes to Disney (land or world).  Second prize is a Disney Princess Wardrobe.  And the prizes go on!  There's even a quilt!

So even if you can't donate, sharing the giveaway will gain you an entry and help spread the word.

And if you can spare a moment say a quick prayer that Colton will be home in his Momma's arms soon!

--- 7 ---

And since the world seems a little bit extra crazy this week, and it seems like my heart aches every time I hear about the latest tragedy in the news, I'll leave you with another Patrick picture.  Because his smiles brighten up my day... and I figure this week could use more goofy, oblivious little baby smiles as we watch the evil unfold around us:

For more Quick Takes, visit Camp Patton!

Theme Thursday: Our Boy

Today the theme for Cari's Theme Thursday was "Boys" so I had to join in with a few Patrick pictures.  Only Patrick?  He wasn't so sure about more pictures:

The tone of this first picture?  Heckling?  A little belligerent?

Who knew that a five month old could have such a strong opinion about having his picture taken?

He did on this particular day.  It was going to take some convincing!

Giraffe had to put on a show.  There were Giraffe kisses and snuggling.  Mommy had to sing.  Then he finally cracked a smile:

And then this!  An actual smile!  The happy baby returns!

He can't resist Momma singing and Giraffe kisses!

Head over to Clan Donaldson to see more of Theme Thursday!

{phfr} Blue Sky Edition

It's raining right now.  It rained all night, along with gigantic claps of thunder, and lightening that managed to light up the room through the cracks in the very heavy curtains in our room.  In fact, the weather man, who's words I've come to dread a little said something about making sure everything's ready for flooding, so I'm not looking forward to going down into the basement this morning, since there's nothing that we can do about the ground water rising up into the house. Is it flooded again?  It had just dried out a couple of days ago.  I guess I'll see when I go down there this morning...

So, for today's post, I wanted to use pictures from a day earlier this week (Tuesday) when it was lovely and bright and not raining and my basement was not flooded...

{pretty}

Surely there are prettier pictures out there, but this one, with the sun filtering down, the grass starting to turn green and a copy of the book the girls and I are currently reading made me so happy that I kept coming back to it.  

And do you see that?  In the background at the top left hand edge of the corner?  It's blue sky!

And a girl who may or may not be seeing a clear outline of her shadow (or any shadow at all) for the first time in quite a while!

And here!  Actual blue sky!  Also, do you know how hard it is for me to get a picture of Mae without her hair completely across her face, since she's in the "don't you dare touch my hair" phase?

I vote this picture a success!  I can see her eyes!

{happy}

My go to guy when I need a "happy" picture.  At least he currently holds still while I snap away, making capturing a smile much, much easier:

Daddy's home from school and outside!  And the girls were "helping" him rake (there's even a picture of Mae attempting to use a shovel).  What could be better?

Princess Races.  And yes, that giant bludgeoning stick Mae insists on carrying does make me nervous (and extra watchful):

{funny}

Sadie is following in my footsteps.  I love hot foods.  I love peppers.  And when I was pregnant I really, really loved peppers.  Apparently my love of peppers has been passed on to my oldest.

She has begun to come into the kitchen to beg for peppers.  I was a little hesitant, but finally handed her one with a warning that they're hot.  Now she's requesting them throughout the day!

{real}

Why yes, we play in the mud!

Although this mud was the least of my problems the other day.  I usually clean the downstairs every night after bedtime... on Monday night that I didn't (migraine) and I was amazed at how much worse it could actually get after two days of not cleaning (because each night I think, the mess couldn't possibly be worse than this!).  This picture is on the second day.  I cropped it really, really close, so that you can only see a little bit of the "real" background.

For more of the Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real fun head over to Like Mother, Like Daughter!

Five Favorites (2)

It's time for another round of Five Favorites:

-1-

If I could I would eat these every single day, forever and ever.  Since they're a little pricey and Paul's mouth dropped open when he saw the price, we'll say it's going to be more like a monthly purchase (when I said that he may have said something like "if that often").  But they are delicious.  And they're gluten free (and vegan).  Seriously.  They're like little bits of wonderful melting in your mouth.  I'm not sure I knew that a gluten free (and dairy free and egg free) cookie could be this wonderful but they are.  If you ever see them in a store run to the counter to pay for them and then sit in the car and eat half of the box (don't worry, that's not that much, the boxes aren't that big):

Photo from the Lovely Oh's Website

-2-

So the weather people basically did a commercial for this radio last night.  They began with something like "tornado season has arrived in Michigan, with the first possibility being Thursday night", and I sat and thought "but we don't get a lot right?  I mean you don't think of Michigan when you think of tornados do you?" and then went into the need for a weather radio.

Someone might have rolled their eyes when I broached the idea this morning... but at this point I'd kind of like one (read: am going to drive out and get one tomorrow when Paul gets home from his classes).

Source

-3-

The dehydrator is high on my list of favorite kitchen tools at the moment.

I think we need to plant strawberries this year...

-4-

I love that our grocery store has a horse that costs exactly one penny to ride.  A mention of the horse can mean super behavior for an entire trip to the grocery store:

-5-

For the past year I've been perfecting my chicken fried steak recipe.  I thought that the diet changes were a big setback but... they actually ended up being helpful.  Here's the latest:

The chicken fried steak is a cube steak sprinkled with garlic powder and then dipped in egg.  It's then set in a mixture that's 1 part rice flour and 2 parts quinoa flakes.  After that I cook it in a frying pan barely coated with olive oil until the sides start to look crisp (just a couple minutes) and bake it at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Sometimes I sew it with marinara sauce and noodles (and in the past cheese) like chicken parmesan.  This week I decided to see what the family thought if I added it to another new recipe.

I steamed chopped cauliflower and then pureed it with melted coconut oil.  Then I added a bit of kosher salt, garlic powder and onion powder and mixed it well.  It was surprisingly delicious.  Even Paul, hater of all things cauliflower admitted that he liked it.

Which makes it my favorite meal of the week!

Those are my favorites!  Head over to Moxie Wife to see the rest of the link up fun!

"Don't you think I'm old enough..."

After coming in from playing in the mud..
Quick, get that child to a sink!

Yesterday after Paul got home from class, Sadie and I hopped into the car and headed over to the local Catholic store.  We hadn't made it there yet, in the nine months since we've lived here, but my brown scapular had finally kicked the bucket after two years of wear, and I was looking for  new one.

As we got out of the car (Sadie in a princess dress with short sleeves) and stepped into the 60 something degree air Sadie looked at me and said:  "It is hot!  I'm practically melting like snowman here!"

Perhaps this should have warned me that she was in particularly fine form.

We entered the store and she instantly gravitated to a small Saint Therese statue and began to explain that she absolutely needed this little statue, and that we needed to be careful that Daddy didn't bump it when he was walking by and knock it over and on and on and on.  I consented to the addition of the tiny statue and we began to look around the store.

It was quite lovely... Then Sadie saw the first communion dresses and veils, hanging in a row.  The discussion, which we've had so many times, began again.  No four still isn't old enough.  Yes they are very pretty.  No I'm not buying one.  Yes those dolls are for girls making their first communion.  

As I shuffled her out of the first communion section are and guided her over to the saint cards I smiled at her passion.  Five minutes later we moved from the saint cards to the crucifix section and found the brown scapulars.  I picked up two, since Paul's is disintegrating also, and began to walk towards the counter.

"Don't you think I'm old enough for my first communion?"  She said to the man at the counter, apparently trying to enlist help.
"Not quite yet," he said with a smile.  "What grade are you in?"
"How old are you?"  I added and she proudly held up four fingers as she answered.
"So you're in preschool!"
To which Sadie replied that she was not in fact, in preschool, but that she stayed home with mom (I was beginning to see that she was just a fount of information for the day).

As I placed everything on the counter Sadie launched into her nun monologue.  "When I grow up I want to be a nun.  I want to marry Jesus!"
"You do?"  He replied kindly.  "That's good because we need more nuns!"
"I want to be a nun and serve God.  I want to do what God wants."  The monologue doesn't stop there. It went on and on.  She shared that she wants to be a Carmelite "just like Mary Therese" although she didn't use her latest favorite phrase, which she's learned from her books and has been repeating around the house.  She'll look at me wistfully and say in the most romantic tone you've ever heard: "Mommy..." (insert sigh)  "Mommy, I want to enter into Carmel..."  (add another sigh).  She told him her sister should be a nun too, but not a Carmelite.  "She should be a nun that wears black..." she said and then launched into an explanation about how Mae had gotten her nun dress dirty when they played outside.

I explained the firmly requested nun third birthday party and that we'd all been rather surprised at how long she'd been proclaiming her dreams of being a nun.  And then we headed back out to the car, where she kept repeating: "I want to serve God. I want to please God..." and other sentences of that sort in day dream-y sort of way as she starred out the window.

Then it was home to do yard work, with my little princess pining away a few more years until she's finally old enough for her first communion.

The Trad Plea Post Continued...

The conversation in the comment box and in a couple of facebook discussions I've been in, have been really interesting for me to watch unfold, and I'm so grateful that all the comments have been charitable and have contributed to my understanding of what's going on surrounding the use of the term "Rad Trad."

Like many of my commenters I've always taken "Rad Trad" to be a derogatory term for someone who prefers the EF and has more traditional tastes in other areas of their life as well.

Some of you have explained that the term is actually used only in reference to sedevacantists or those who reject the authority of the second Vatican Council.

Therein I think lies a huge problem with the discussion.  We aren't all using the same terms here.  Bloggers may very well be using the term "Rad Trad" to mean someone who rejects the authority of the Pope and the council, but since the term isn't out there in some dictionary clearly defined their readers may not know exactly what their definition is.

Which, in my opinion, is another point in favor of just not calling each other names... although I understand that that idea will be completely ignored because when we're right and someone else is wrong name calling is just oh so much fun, even if it does nothing to add to the discussion (and I'll be the first to admit that I'm certain I've done it in the past when I'm on a tirade... and will likely, unfortunately do it again in the future, despite my best intentions...).

The other point that comes up, and which I touched on briefly in the last post for the sake of brevity, is whether "Traditionalists" are obligated to speak out every single time some unhinged person who has an affinity for the Latin Mass (see me trying not to use name calling?  I wrote "crack pot" and deleted it) says something offensive.

Some say yes.

Here's my take on it.  I have a limited amount of blogging time each day.  Let's say it's an hour.  I try not to rant all the time, because it's exhausting, and probably not exactly healthy, or that fun to read. I see two stories.  One is about some crazy guy in some corner of the world who denied that the holocaust happened.  The other is about some crazy guy in my state who killed hundreds of babies.

I pause.  Which should I write about with the finite time I have set before me?  Then I start reasoning away at this problem:

Everybody knows the first person is crazy.  The holocaust happened.  The vast majority of society knows that it happened.  Who doesn't?  Are we talking about .1% of the population here, who holds this historically inaccurate view?  Yes, it's wrong to say that it didn't happen.  Very, very wrong.  But will my writing about it change either the minds of the sliver of the population who completely rejects history to believe this totally baseless claim?  Absolutely not.

I then turn my mind towards the other story... abortion.  I make my choice, based on the fact that about half the people in our country think that it's okay to kill a baby in his mother's womb.  For a moment the handbag of the woman who seems uncomfortable every time I arrive at dance class with Sadie flashes through my mind and I see the words "I Heart Planned Parenthood" and have the sickening realization that there are people who "Heart" abortion enough to have it emblazoned on a bag... and they're a much more significant number in the population.

So at the end of the day, with my finite writing time, I would choose to write about the second story.  And that was my issue with the article that said as a "Traditionalist" you're obligated to tell the whole world that you vehemently disagree, every single time you see this particular evil rear it's ugly head.  If you want to write about a subject that's great...  But telling Traditionalists everywhere that they're obligated to do the same seems to me to be taking it a bit far... and frankly, I don't like giving that random holocaust denier a platform on my blog, where many people never would have heard the particular brand of crazy he's sending out into the world.

If that special sort of falsehood rears it's ugly head in my vicinity you can bet I'll be speaking out against it.  But am I going to track it down to the far corners of the earth and have it translated so that I can respond, when I've never actually met anyone in my entire life who believes it?

I guess that's my explanation for why I don't write about every single evil that I come across, even when it most definitely is evil... time is finite.  Blogging time is especially so.  I'm pretty sure my husband would tell you I've already crossed over in the blogging time line this fine morning.  And so I weigh the damage that those evils are doing in this immediate moment, and pick and choose what I write about.  Hopefully that doesn't make people think I'm complicit in some sort of "Traditionalist" club where we all have to correct each other all the time, even if we've never met and believe entirely different things... but in some eyes, I'm sure it will.

Yesterday...

When tragedy strikes, like yesterdays attack at the Boston Marathon, I always feel like I should have some amazing blog post spilling from my finger tips.  It never happens though.  Because instead I just feel a mixture of sadness and horror and thankfulness for my sister-in-law who posted that everyone in the family was accounted for before I even knew that anything had happened since I hadn't been online or seen the news all day, and didn't know what happened until my mom called from California where people in the fabric store she was in were asking if anyone had updates on what was going on.

I  turned off Dora, which had been on all day since we're still a house of sick people here, although who's sick seems to be rotating, and turned on the news and watched with that same sinking feeling I had after the shootings in December... the same drop in my stomach when I heard about 9/11 on the radio and wondered if it was some sort of hoax (because it was a radio station where the DJs were never serious about anything) and then saw my friends face as I pulled into the parking lot and knew instantly that it was not.

And I also knew, as I watched that cloud from the blast form over and over again on the news, that I had absolutely nothing to say of value to say or to add... because what can be said in the face of such evil, other than that it's wrong, so very wrong, which we all already know?

So we add our prayers to the many prayers being sent up for the people hurt and killed at the race yesterday, but beyond that I'm sure that there are many posts already out there that make so much more sense and add so much more to the moment than my simply repeated:  "Why?  Why? Why?" which is playing on repeat in my mind.

Prayers for the people of Boston, all those at the race, and for the conversion of those who planned and put into motion this great evil.  May God touch there hearts so that they may realize the horror of what they've done.

What I Wore Sunday: Patrick is Dressed Like a Monkey Edition

I've gotten wise to my children and their Sunday outfit destroying ways and so this morning I slipped on my Crafty Mamacita apron (which happens to be the most awesome apron in the world!  I love how much coverage it gives!  And it's polka dotted pockets!  And the fact that it's reversible with polka dots on the other side!) and let the kids do their worst.  My dress even survived morning the greasing of the Vaseline/Crisco baby!

Sadie snatched up my shoes and tried to walk around the living room in them.  She was a little wobbly!

Oh and do you see the "Little House on the Prairie" hair she's been requesting, complete with ribbons.  She's begging for a yellow bonnet too, like Laura's (we've been watching the first season of LHOTP as a treat and we're almost finished with The Long Winter).

Patrick got bundled up because I didn't trust our lying security system which said the low was going to be above freezing:

Oh and this is the mixture he's slathered with twice a day, per the allergist's orders, in case you were curious (okay, I know you weren't, but here it is anyways):

I love his little expression in this picture!

It's hard to catch our wiggly whirling girls on my (not particularly spectacular) camera:

Today I wore my favorite Old Navy dress, with my blue snood, a sweater from Macy's from 2008 and a belt taken off of one of my other sweaters.  Oh and those shoes which are fine when you're not holding a 40 lb baby in a baby carrier for an hour, but which become a special penance with those extra pounds:

Sadie wore her "green ruffle dress" which Nani gave her for Christmas.  It's from Chasing Fireflies and is one of her favorites.  Mae wore the Dora dress I made her for Christmas, along with a purple sweater handed down from me (yes, it's that old).  And Dora kept the peace while everyone got dressed:

I was right about the weather.  That's hail in Mae's hair.  Which turned to snow (with some giant snowflakes).  And that finally stopped and now it's just grey and overcast outside:

Here we are hurrying to our van after attending Mass (during which none of our children earned above a C+ for behavior and someone who is definitely old enough to know how to act tried to get up and dance during the homily).  That's the Capital behind Paul (to give you an idea of how close the cathedral is to the capital building).

And here's lunch, which I thought deserved it's very own photo montage, mostly because I set up the dehydrator I got for my birthday and collected the five half eaten apples the girls left around the living room and sliced off the eaten parts and made dried apples, and then banana chips and "strawberry chips" (what Sadie called them).  

The side dish was butternut squash and sweet potatoes baked after being tossed in coconut oil mixed with cinnamon and a little kosher salt:

And while I'm rambling about food I have to share this.  Last night I made mini meatloaves from my favorite Paleo cookbook... and I made homemade ketchup to go with it.  I am inordinately proud of the ketchup, so it also got it's own picture too (which is mostly because I did realize that giving the ketchup it's own post might be a little over the top, since it's not even my own recipe):

And that is my post for What I Wore Sunday!  Visit FLAP to see what the other ladies in the linkup are wearing!

7 Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

The plumber just left.  And his answers... well... I'm not wishing there was a leak in the main water pipe, just above the floor where it looked like water was coming in.

Because he said one of two things are happening.  Either a) this is group water welling up out of the ground flooding the basements and the solution is to get everything off the ground because this is going to happen every time it rains or b) the water main is broken underground outside of our home... but we won't be able to tell until it stops raining and if water is still coming up into our house after it stops raining, then we'll know it's the water main outside.

Um... okay.  So last I heard it's at least raining through Monday.

At least I saved the books, right?  That's something, isn't it?

(Update on Quick Take #5, because our land lord is great!)

--- 2 ---

Maggie is having a crazy party this morning.  We let her have something that had wheat breading in it and the crazy has been amped up by that apparent misstep, that occurred when I was like: "I've been moving boxes all day, and we're out of food because tomorrow is shopping day, and we don't have running water, so please just pick up some chicken nuggets and everyone make as little noise as possible!!!"

And no, I didn't feel particularly good after having fast food for the first time in three months, and no, I'm not planning on doing it regularly, especially when my living room suddenly becomes crazy town with someone crying because this button doesn't look like it's buttoned right (it was), but it's a little crooked because that same someone has been yanking on it for the past half hour trying to make sure that it is still buttoned, while looking for something to cry about.

--- 3 ---

I wish I could figure out a way for the ground water to well up and water my seedlings an appropriate amount (although I guess that won't work with the heating pads they're on...).

--- 4 ---

Has anyone else been watching the news lately (yes, I watch the news... no, I'm not going to stop... even if it makes me feel seriously disheartened about the state of the world for five to ten minutes after it's over...), and wondering what is going on with the world these days?  I know that people will say it's always like this, and coverage is just better, or something like that but really?

First the horrible serial killer abortionist trial is so stomach turning... and then someone in the UK proposes that sex offenders have served their time and should be allowed to adopt or be foster parents (with screening but still... it makes me feel a little ill...)... and the string of rape related news reports of young girls assaulted at parties and their subsequent suicides that are all over front pages at the moment... but MSNBC says things will be better if we remember that our children belong to the community, although somehow I imagine that my idea of the "community" that my children belong to doesn't match up with their idea of community.

--- 5 ---

Since I wrote #1 our land lord called and told us that this doesn't happen all the time and it sounds like it is the water main and she's called the light board and they should be here today to see if the water main is broken outside.  I'm so, so thankful for her.  She has been such a great land lord!

--- 6 ---

Sometimes I think that world of copyright and licensing has gone a bit too far.  Like, "here buy this licensed fabric, but don't you dare make anything with it to sell, even though you paid $17 a yard for it, because even though you bought it we still control what you can do with it" far.  And then I see this and I know that it's gone way, way to far.  So Fox owns all orange stripey hats with ear flaps and pom poms on the top?  Even if you designed the knitting pattern yourself?

Can I write a story with a blue tie in it and say I own rights to all the blue ties in the world and if you sell one you owe me licensing fees?

Fox if you didn't design that knitting pattern I have no idea how you can claim rights to that hat... and since they're all different and you didn't...

--- 7 ---

 Do you need to laugh now?  I know I do.  And I laugh every time I watch this.

Sneezing is apparently very funny in our house: 

And please say a prayer for Jen from  Conversion Diary and her new little guy Joseph.  And then head over to Camp Patton for today's Quick Takes!