Fun with braces. These are paperclips. He calls them fangs. He had fun playing with magnets too – seeing just how many he could get to dangle in a drooping line.

And I lopped off all my hair. I like it better today than yesterday. I guess it’s growing on me (awful pun intentional). Bill, in trying to say something positive, said that it was a good cut for running. Because there are so many people I’m trying to impress at 5 am.

The other night at dinner, Bill and I were discussing the Great Books curriculum at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California. We agreed that if our kids wanted a liberal arts education, this would be the program we would encourage them to consider.

“But honestly, Bill, I really would like them to enroll in a Bachelor of Science program. I just, uh, well, no offense, but I just don’t see the use of a liberal arts education.”

“Face it, Michelle, people with a Bachelor of Science degree work for people with a Bachelor of Arts degree.”

Harumph.

Dear, sweet husband, please note that I did not argue with you.

Meekness, even in its etymology, has always implied harnessed strength, not weakness.

Eric Scheske, who is certainly not the master of politically correct verbiage, had this to say regarding the high numbers of babies aborted due to a Down’s Syndrome diagnosis:

How can they tell whether the fetus is mongoloid or merely vibrantly French?

I’m sure most people will find this comment to be horribly insensitive. I, however, am reminded of the conversation my mother relayed to me that occurred after the birth of my brother, Glenn. Glenn will be 37 years old on Thursday. Back then, they didn’t have AFP screens with high false positives, nor did they have ultrasound. And since my mother was in her early 20s, who would have suspected that her child might have a genetic abnormality usually found in children of older parents?

But after his birth, the doctors and nurses looked at him and then approached my mother with the likelihood of his mental retardation. What makes you think he has Down’s Syndrome, my mother asked. They then proceeded to point out his physical characteristics, one by one, to which, each time, my mother responded that her husband had similar features. In fact, my brother does have Down’s Syndrome (and my father does not). But it does make one wonder if some of the babies are not misdiagnosed with Down’s, when in reality, they just look like their parents.

My husband, when describing his own father to people who do not know him, mentions that he looks like Adolf Hitler – a look I think my very nice father-in-law cultivated to frighten his own children and those in the neighborhood.

My father, on the other hand, looks more like Napoleon. Now Napoleon hailed from Corsica, not France. But the historically xenophobic French accepted him as their leader, so he must have passed himself off fairly well as one of their own.

And so, if my Down’s brother looks like my father and my father looks like Napoleon, how can they tell if a baby in utero is mongoloid or merely vibrantly French?

Do your kids have an incessant craving for “scrap” paper for their various art projects?

I got these instructions in an email, and followed them. Yup, 10 reams of copy paper and a box of paperclips for $16, including delivery. I didn’t need paperclips, but I think they’re the cheapest thing you can get that ensures your order is over $25 (which you need for the $10 off coupon – spend $0.29, save $10, quite a deal there).

Follow these step by step instructions so that you can apply the coupons.

1. Go to www.officedepot. com
2. Search and Add 345603 ( Price : $5.59 ) – Buy 10 of these
3. Search and Add 429266 ( Price : $0.29 )
4. Coupon Price : -$31.00 Code : 73649244
5. Coupon Price : -$10 off $25 Code : 44141777

Final Price : $16.25 Shipped (mine was $15.95…different state taxes, I guess)

Offer ends soon.

The Kitchen Madonna would be pleased. I was at the fabric store yesterday. As I paid for my selections, the lady asked me what I was making with such pretty fabric. “Aprons,” I told her.

“Everybody seems to be making aprons,” she mused.

Everybody must be getting ready for National Wear an Apron Day: Monday, May 14th!

…to Baby Penelope. Welcome to the world.

If you haven’t already done so, please stop by this fair hosted by the ever delightful Margaret.

Me: What are we going to do when we can’t do this any more?

Bill: Bicker.

I got a little post card from the post office in the mail yesterday. In fact, unbelievably, it was the only thing in the mail box. No catalogs, no bills, no circulars. Two days ago, we had only catalogs – about 4, I think.

Anyway, the post card contained news that makes me very happy: the post office will pick up packages from your house!!! They have two flat rate boxes which should be the right size for most of the little care packages I intended to send to family – one size is 8 1/2″ x 11″ x 5 1/2″. So, I have to pay for the box instead of using the ones I’ve been saving and storing in my garage, and the flat rate of $8.10 (Priority Mail) might be a little more than what it would cost if I trudged down to the post office and waited in line for a half hour with 5 kids including a tantruming toddler and bi-polar preschooler. But one has to seriously consider how much it would be worth it to avoid waiting in line for a half hour with a tantruming toddler and a bi-polar preschooler. I often ask myself: if there were a 16 year old seeking employment who lived next door to me, would I be willing to pay him/her $10 to run this errand for me? If the answer is yes, then the extra shipping or service charge or whatever is worth it.

Hmmm…I’ll have to remember this idea when my son gets to driving age. I don’t know if we’ll still be homeschooling him for high school, but I think an errand service could be an excellent way to make money: grocery store, post office, pharmacy, dry cleaners. Market his service to stay-at-home moms with little ones, and he’d have a steady stream of customers.

I’ve already resolved, when my daughters are old enough, to start a house cleaning business with them. If they spent a few years under my tutelage doing that, they could do it themselves and make some serious dollars. Why work retail or fast food for minimum wage when you can earn $30 an hour (under the table) vacuuming rugs? I really wish I had thought of this when I was in college. It would have been nice to have some extra drinking money.