Monthly Archives: November 2006

11.06.06
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In brief…

This morning I’ve got to get the dog from the vet who boarded her this weekend and shop for 3″ wide white fluff and 1″ wide gray velcro. And do school…

I’ll post some photos later and recap the weekend and the reunion.

For now, if you’ve already been to Danielle Bean’s website, you’ve seen these already. If not, here are two must-see links:

The Second Catholic Homeschool Carnival. This will be absorbing any free time I have today.

Children of God For Life’s FDA Alert: The FDA wants the public’s opinion about the use of aborted fetal cells being used in vaccines. Most states are mandating the chicken pox vaccine, but the only one available was made from aborted fetuses. Most doctors use the MMR vaccine, which also was made from aborted fetuses. Unless we speak up, there will continue to be no moral alternative to these vaccines. If you’ve ever resisted giving your child one of these vaccines, you know how much pressure and guilt is applied to parents to go against their conscience. I don’t want my child to suffer these dreadful diseases either, but a moral stand is a moral stand, and sometimes the consequences of a moral stand are unpleasant in this world. Here’s a chance to tell the government exactly what we think about corporations like Merck who have little to no regard for the moral sensibilities of those subjected to the laws their PACS successfully lobby to enact. Send the FDA a letter TODAY!!!!!

11.02.06
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Road Trips and Reunions

Tomorrow morning the kids and I are heading to Pennsylvania to visit with a good friend. I’m excited because the last dozen times I’ve seen her, it seemed I would have a hasty cup of coffee and then run out to take care of my rental property while she babysat my kids. Then I’d come back to her house, grab a quick meal, gather the kids and leave. Not much fun (for either of us!). Thank goodness, she is a real true good friend who doesn’t mind too much being abused like that. And her kids are good friends with my kids, so they had fun.

This time, we’re sleeping at her house, and there’s no rushing around to other places. At some point, surely, the kids will all be sleeping, and we might enjoy an hour of uninterrupted conversation. Surely.

Saturday morning, we’ll head out and pick Bill up at the train station. We do have to take care of some rental property business, but hopefully this won’t take too long. We’ll go over to Bill’s parents’ house and visit for a bit. Bill’s parents will watch the kids while we get together with friends at a bar in New Jersey. Then we’ll all head over to Bill’s and his buddies’ 20th high school reunion.

Bill and I went to his 10th reunion. We had been married just over a year and had no kids. It will be interesting to see if anyone has changed as much as we have! The reunion is just a buffet reception at a local hotel, but the best part will surely be the pre-reunion private party with old friends. I really like the one friend’s wife, and I’ll get to meet the other friend’s girlfriend.

A few days ago, we also received information about Bill’s 15th college reunion.

{I’ll interrupt myself quickly to explain that Bill did not begin college immediately upon graduation from high school. He procrastinated drifted aimlessly took his time and made a deliberate and thoughtful college selection. It’s a good thing too, because had he started college when he was 18, I’m certain some other intelligent, attractive young co-ed would have scooped him up before I found him.}

Our college hosts all the reunions at the same time. Each different class has their own private parties, but lots of activities are done all together. For example, there is a big reunion parade for all alumni and their families through the small town where the college is located. Afterward, there are various activities on the campus with each class doing their own thing. The reunion letter highlighted pong as one of the fun events for the Class of 1992. Just in case you didn’t attend a big party school, pong is ping pong but with beer and the object being to get as drunk as possible.

I suggested to Bill that we wait until his 20th reunion to see if perhaps his classmates had grown up any by then. We laugh at our quarterly alumni newsletter where classmates announce the happy news of their engagement or marriage or perhaps the birth of their first child. We’re so far removed from those “new beginnings” days. I seriously think it may be another decade before we and these peers can meet on similar ground.

It certainly will be interesting to find out.

11.02.06
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(Un)Holy Day of Obligation

This morning I soooo wanted to start attending daily Mass daily just so when my kids complained that “We have to go to Mass every day,” it would be true.

And then I went to Mass and remembered again exactly why I don’t go to daily Mass daily. Yes, I suppose if I did it more often the kids would be better behaved. That’s a theory that I fear would require much accumulated time in Purgatory to prove or disprove. You see, for every grace obtained by attending Mass and receiving Communion, I blow it by spending the entire time committing venial sins. Can one truly find God while plotting to murder one’s progeny? When life imprisonment begins to sound appealing (benefit #1: no kids, benefit #2: I’m willing to bet that many prisons have daily Mass), you have to seriously consider the cost/benefit of going to Mass with kids.

Since today was a Holy Day of Obligation, I have no problem with obeying that directive. I feel that my act of compliance out of love of God and Church outweighs any discomfort, embarrassment or distractions I suffered for the 45 minutes. But most days are not days of obligation, and to attend Mass tomorrow, for example, would be an act of insanity, I believe. Perhaps in a few years I’ll be able and willing to torment my children, as they now torment me, by truly going to Mass every day. Paybacks are unpleasant. But, for now, I’ll tough it out on Sundays and leave the rest of the days to obtain God’s graces in some other way.

11.01.06
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New Month’s Resolution for November

Ah, a new month. A fresh start in some small aspect of my life.

A few weeks ago, my sister proposed a novel writing challenge as my November resolution. I guess it’s a big thing. The objective: to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of November. Here are some FAQs, if you seem inclined (you can sign up to participate through the end of November). Some of my favorite quotes off their website:

Can anyone participate in NaNoWriMo? No. People who take their writing (and themselves) very seriously should probably go elsewhere. Everyone else, though, is warmly welcomed.

If I’m just writing 50,000 words of crap, why bother? Why not just write a real novel later, when I have more time?

There are three reasons.

1) If you don’t do it now, you probably never will. Novel writing is mostly a “one day” event. As in “One day, I’d like to write a novel.” {snip}

2) Aiming low is the best way to succeed. With entry-level novel writing, shooting for the moon is the surest way to get nowhere. With high expectations, everything you write will sound cheesy and awkward. {snip}

3) Art for art’s sake does wonderful things to you. It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It makes you want to take naps and go places wearing funny pants. Doing something just for the hell of it is a wonderful antidote to all the chores and “must-dos” of daily life. Writing a novel in a month is both exhilarating and stupid, and we would all do well to invite a little more spontaneous stupidity into our lives.

And I can no longer find it, but there was something earlier on their website about doing it because randomly quoting your own novel at parties is so much fun.

Well, I was all ready to jump on the NaNoWriMo bandwagon, but Barb, the big mistake you made was giving me too much time to think about it! I started thinking about all the other things I planned to do this month, and quickly decided that this November was not a good month to try to carve out free time. First off, I need to get production going on camouflage Christmas stockings. And secondly, I had set aside the week before Thanksgiving to try to figure out how I was going to make this dress for my niece’s First Holy Communion using my sister’s wedding dress.

So this month’s resolution is to get all my sewing projects completed! That’s a challenge enough. I am flattered, though, that I have inspired others to think about new month’s resolutions (even to the point of them recommending one to me!). I see that Jennie has already listed her new month’s resolutions (see her sidebar), and did get all of her October resolutions done! If you want to know what the new months’ resolutions are all about, check out my July post. And if you want to see what other things I’ve done, well, there’s this handy dandy “post label” thing now and all you have to do is click on “New Month’s Resolutions” at the bottom of this post, and all related posts will come up! Cool!

Let me know if you decide to do a new month’s resolution. And if you take on the NaNoWriMo challenge, please let me know that too!