Today is Memorial Day. Alas, I don't think we'll be doing much commemorating. Rick has to go into work.
Woke up way too early around 4. Stayed in bed until 5. Heard cats fighting so got up. Someone had closed the door into the mudroom where the kitty litter is but kept the door open to the study (supposed to be kept shut because the cats get in there). So first thing I did was clean up not one, not two, but three messes in the study. Not a good way to start the day! The teens stay up later than I do and they are supposed to make sure things are good for the night before they go to bed. Some nights they are more responsible than others. Two cats are supposed to be outside at night but somehow all three were inside.
Fed pets
Made coffee
Made a list of everything I need to do this summer and then just this week.
Read from Deuteronomy and from book on mediations based on the writings of the Church Fathers. Lately the passages have all been about the sin of gossip, how wrong mocking and insulting others is and the evil of blasphemy. And isn't all that 90% of social media?
Read from Lumen Fedei - assigned reading for Theo class.
Worked on Latin syllabus for Aquinas. Probably for more than an hour.
Went to Mass for Memorial day at 10 a.m. with Vivianne and little Dylan. Woke up teens before I left and told them to get up and start studying for their history test.
Came home, ate leftover Chinese food, chatted with Vivianne, took a shower.
Figured out I did not have to drive out to Round Hill to get religious awards today.
S was really bummed because he just bought a really expensive harmonica and was teaching himself to play. There was an annoying buzzing in the lower notes so he opened it up to try to fix it and somehow damaged it. I comforted him with the idea that there probably is a harmonica repair person out there somewhere. I tried calling local music store but it was closed due to the holiday.
So then I offered to help him study for his history final exam. This was actually very pleasant. Sat out on the screen porch with iced tea and talked American history until we were tired.
B insisted on studying on her own.
Read some of my book for new book club and then napped a while.
Got up, chopped up and roasted some vegetables for dinner.
S and I studied some more - again pleasantly sitting out on the screen porch talking history.
Made toasted cheese subs on those yummy pretzel sandwich rolls they have at TJ's with a side of roasted veggies for dinner. B assembled all the sandwich makings, buffet style. It's just a come and get it kind of dinner.
Took Dylan on a walk. I forgot how nice it is to take a baby on a walk. I used to walk for miles when I just had Hannah as a baby. The more babies you have though the more of a project this becomes! But just one baby is quite peaceful! The evening, though a bit warm and sticky, had a lovely breeze.
Worked more on Latin syllabus, still hanging out on the screen porch. S was busy showering.
Studied more with S, lots of great talks on the impact WWII had on our country, the Cold War, etc.
Rick came home about 9 p.m. Made him a sandwich. hung out with him, watched the end of the Nats game (they won!). Said night prayers. Went to bed with dire warnings about cats to everybody. B was still studying. S was hanging out with Rick, J also made an appearance.
In bed about 10:30, read more from Song of Bernadette til I fell asleep.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Summer Plans
I am just so sick, sick, sick about the direction this country is taking. I hate everybody. I quit twitter. I had only been on a couple of months but it was sucking my soul out with all the political stuff I would get myself wound up about. So I stopped. I am officially burying my head in the sand. I don't believe in social media. Let others be social there. It makes me hate humans.
Instead, my plans for this summer:
1) Work on my Theology courses - which thank God (!) are absorbing, challenging and instills rather than depletes hope.
2) S has to do chemistry and Latin through the end of July; Becky has to do math and Latin through the end of July. We are also going to finish reading Plutarch's Cicero, come hell or high water.
3) Help develop Latin curriculum for Aquinas.
4) I am going to continue to help Vivianne out and babysit little Dylan for her, who is growing up right before our eyes!
5) Be more intentional food-wise - CSA starts next month so hopefully I'll be cooking at home more.
6) With the CSA opening, I'll be walking more, plus I take Dylan on walks when I am watching him -so more walking. I must get shoes that don't hurt my feet though. Hard to walk when it is killing you! And the worst thing is at night. My feet ache and cramp all night. It's awful. Must fix that!
7) do regular core exercises too.
8) Rick is fixing it up so that I can listen to audible books in the van. Will has inspired me to listen to Boswell's Life of Johnson. So this summer I am going to conquer that baby!
9) I want to watch all the P.G. Wodehouse episodes with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. In fact, I am tempted to get them for Rick for Father's Day. I think he'll like them and it will be something to watch together to keep us from getting too depressed.
10) Today was the last 12:10 Mass at St. John Neumann until after Labor day. So I am going back to my summer routine of going to the 8 a.m. at OLGC.
11) I will be spending a lot of time chauffeuring teens around (see Boswell/Johnson #8 as coping mechanism) Hopefully, Sean will get his license this summer.
12) Still have a few things post Memorial Day weekend to finish up: kids have to take their history final, B has her final awards ceremony for AHG, and I must order the end of year testing from Seton.
But of course the most important thing to do this summer is; PRAY MORE!
Instead, my plans for this summer:
1) Work on my Theology courses - which thank God (!) are absorbing, challenging and instills rather than depletes hope.
2) S has to do chemistry and Latin through the end of July; Becky has to do math and Latin through the end of July. We are also going to finish reading Plutarch's Cicero, come hell or high water.
3) Help develop Latin curriculum for Aquinas.
4) I am going to continue to help Vivianne out and babysit little Dylan for her, who is growing up right before our eyes!
5) Be more intentional food-wise - CSA starts next month so hopefully I'll be cooking at home more.
6) With the CSA opening, I'll be walking more, plus I take Dylan on walks when I am watching him -so more walking. I must get shoes that don't hurt my feet though. Hard to walk when it is killing you! And the worst thing is at night. My feet ache and cramp all night. It's awful. Must fix that!
7) do regular core exercises too.
8) Rick is fixing it up so that I can listen to audible books in the van. Will has inspired me to listen to Boswell's Life of Johnson. So this summer I am going to conquer that baby!
9) I want to watch all the P.G. Wodehouse episodes with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. In fact, I am tempted to get them for Rick for Father's Day. I think he'll like them and it will be something to watch together to keep us from getting too depressed.
10) Today was the last 12:10 Mass at St. John Neumann until after Labor day. So I am going back to my summer routine of going to the 8 a.m. at OLGC.
11) I will be spending a lot of time chauffeuring teens around (see Boswell/Johnson #8 as coping mechanism) Hopefully, Sean will get his license this summer.
12) Still have a few things post Memorial Day weekend to finish up: kids have to take their history final, B has her final awards ceremony for AHG, and I must order the end of year testing from Seton.
But of course the most important thing to do this summer is; PRAY MORE!
Monday, May 23, 2016
Things I am learning
Well, I am into week 3 of my intro class to the Master's of Theology program. Things I am learning:
1) When you write academically, your professors really care about things like punctuation, grammar, following directions precisely, remembering to follow Turabian to a t. I was never good at this stuff to begin with and now with 27 intervening years and the onset of old age after many years of motherhood, my brain is CREAKY and SLOW!
2) Reading 250 pages of Theology a week is HARD. When the school recommends a course will take about 5 hours of study a day, they are sort of underestimating things. And then to think this stuff will all be on a final exam. I can barely articulate what I've just read! Gulp!
3) This week I have to write a three page essay and I am terrified. This morning I started to write it but then because I am so insecure about everything (I get so many things wrong, you see) I kept looking up stuff, but then I remembered that I am not supposed to use outside sources for this essay because it is supposed to give the professor a bead on how well I am comprehending what I've read so far. But since I don't feel I have comprehended much . . . I wanna look stuff up. Vicious circle! I wish I had time to reread everything a couple times. Alas, I have other things to do too besides study.
4) So far I am highly impressed at the graciousness and the professionalism of both my professors and the whole way that Catholic Distance University is run. What an exciting, welcoming, well thought out community of study.
4) In spite of being deeply intimidated 50% of the time, the other 50% is spent thrilled to be studying this stuff finally. I pinch myself a lot and wonder, am I really this blessed?
4) Learning in depth about the mystery of the Trinity and then going to Mass on Trinity Sunday made me cry. There's this volcanic joy going on under the surface of reality. I am living two lives; the ordinary and the ecstatic!
1) When you write academically, your professors really care about things like punctuation, grammar, following directions precisely, remembering to follow Turabian to a t. I was never good at this stuff to begin with and now with 27 intervening years and the onset of old age after many years of motherhood, my brain is CREAKY and SLOW!
2) Reading 250 pages of Theology a week is HARD. When the school recommends a course will take about 5 hours of study a day, they are sort of underestimating things. And then to think this stuff will all be on a final exam. I can barely articulate what I've just read! Gulp!
3) This week I have to write a three page essay and I am terrified. This morning I started to write it but then because I am so insecure about everything (I get so many things wrong, you see) I kept looking up stuff, but then I remembered that I am not supposed to use outside sources for this essay because it is supposed to give the professor a bead on how well I am comprehending what I've read so far. But since I don't feel I have comprehended much . . . I wanna look stuff up. Vicious circle! I wish I had time to reread everything a couple times. Alas, I have other things to do too besides study.
4) So far I am highly impressed at the graciousness and the professionalism of both my professors and the whole way that Catholic Distance University is run. What an exciting, welcoming, well thought out community of study.
4) In spite of being deeply intimidated 50% of the time, the other 50% is spent thrilled to be studying this stuff finally. I pinch myself a lot and wonder, am I really this blessed?
4) Learning in depth about the mystery of the Trinity and then going to Mass on Trinity Sunday made me cry. There's this volcanic joy going on under the surface of reality. I am living two lives; the ordinary and the ecstatic!
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Bruschetta
This week I did something I've often thought of doing, I made bruschetta from stale French bread. I had bought two big loaves of French bread, but only one got eaten while the other went stale. Darn, I thought, once again I wasted bread. But then I remembered I could make bread crumbs, croutons or bruschetta. I have once or twice made bread crumbs and once or twice I've made croutons, but I'd never made bruschetta.
This is my adaptation of the Pioneer Woman's recipe.
Heat some olive oil in a pan - I probably did a tablespoon or two.
Drop in a healthy dollop of garlic (from my handy dandy jar of chopped garlic)
stir it around until it browns a tiny bit.
Chop up a bunch of grape or cherry tomatoes (I happened to have some on hand)
Let the olive oil cook a bit and then pour it over the chopped tomatoes.
Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a little salt and pepper.
Melt butter in frying pan.
Slice stale french bread just the right thickness!
Toast slices in butter until perfect golden color, do both sides.
get out your jar of black olives in red wine vinegar and your jar of roasted peppers.
Chop some up.
Place toasted French bread slices on big platter and spoon either the tomatoes or the peppers and olives over the top of the bread. They are like little open face sandwiches.
Eat! DELICIOUS!
I wish I had taken a picture because it looked really pretty too.
This is my adaptation of the Pioneer Woman's recipe.
 |
| I just bought this at the International Food Market at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Really nice olive oil! |
Heat some olive oil in a pan - I probably did a tablespoon or two.
Drop in a healthy dollop of garlic (from my handy dandy jar of chopped garlic)
stir it around until it browns a tiny bit.
Chop up a bunch of grape or cherry tomatoes (I happened to have some on hand)
Let the olive oil cook a bit and then pour it over the chopped tomatoes.
Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a little salt and pepper.
 |
| I don't always get everything from Trader Joe's! |
Melt butter in frying pan.
 |
| My favorite butter; it will be the death of me! |
Slice stale french bread just the right thickness!
Toast slices in butter until perfect golden color, do both sides.
get out your jar of black olives in red wine vinegar and your jar of roasted peppers.
Chop some up.
Place toasted French bread slices on big platter and spoon either the tomatoes or the peppers and olives over the top of the bread. They are like little open face sandwiches.
Eat! DELICIOUS!
I wish I had taken a picture because it looked really pretty too.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Leviticus and Numbers
I finished the book of Leviticus back in March and I just finished the book of Numbers.
When I began Leviticus, I thought I was just going to have to push myself through it since I thought it would just be a list of arcane laws and regulations, and it is a lot of that, but I found it pretty interesting, too. I guess I was trying to read it in more of an anthropological light. Just why would this ancient people have these kinds of laws and ways of worshipping? What might it reveal about them? These are just my own and probably really ignorant musings, but I kept thinking that back in the day when famine wasn't far away, wasn't it something that people took the best of their flocks and herds, and regularly offered it up to the Lord for all kinds of reasons?
For one thing being a priest back then pretty much meant being a butcher. They did a lot of slaughtering of animals for all kinds of offerings. Here is a link to a chart I found on the different types of offerings.
One random question that kept going through my head, especially in light of the frequent regulations about cleanliness was if they ever washed down the altar? So many times the priest are called to splash the sides of the altar with the blood of the sacrifice. Washing it afterwards is never mentioned and I looked for it! Wouldn't that get really smelly and attract flies and rats? Shudder!
Leviticus reads like a mash up of several different things. Primarily it seems to be the rules for the priests, but thrown in there is more general stuff about caring for the poor (gleaning for example). Many times the text repeats itself, so it definitely seems like whoever compiled the book didn't want to have to choose between different versions of the same texts but just put them all together.
Numbers is in much of the same mode. We get more rules and regulations but we also get the repeated complaining of the Israelites and poor Moses having to run interference between them and God. Miriam and Aaron die, Moses puts a Seraph on the pole to cure snakebites, the Israelites finally conquer the Amorites and get to live there right next to the Promised Land instead of wandering around the desert.
I keep seeing (with the hindsight of history) glimmers of social justice. For instance, even though women must get permission from their fathers and husbands when making a 'vow' (not sure what this means exactly but it has to do with making promises to do or not do things for the Lord), the law also says that if the husband or father doesn't speak up right away, they forfeit their power to forbid the pledge later. So the idea seems to come across that husbands and fathers can't be arbitrary to their daughters and wives, unlike say the patriarch of a Roman family whose rule was always supreme. There's a lot of little things like that. The Hebrew God is definitely different from Moloch or Baal. He really is much more just and a God of loving-kindness, in spite of all his depictions as an angry, judgmental God.
Much of Leviticus and Numbers has to do with practical ways to regulate society. The problem of inheritance and how to provide for the priests who don't own land but are city dwellers, or how to help the poor (families need to take care of their poor relatives, even if they are annoying!), the whole idea of a jubilee year to reorganize wealth systematically, all this is really an interesting peek into the mind of Bronze Age culture.
Now on to Deuteronomy!
 |
| In Leviticus and Numbers the Israelites are in exile wandering around the desert. |
When I began Leviticus, I thought I was just going to have to push myself through it since I thought it would just be a list of arcane laws and regulations, and it is a lot of that, but I found it pretty interesting, too. I guess I was trying to read it in more of an anthropological light. Just why would this ancient people have these kinds of laws and ways of worshipping? What might it reveal about them? These are just my own and probably really ignorant musings, but I kept thinking that back in the day when famine wasn't far away, wasn't it something that people took the best of their flocks and herds, and regularly offered it up to the Lord for all kinds of reasons?
For one thing being a priest back then pretty much meant being a butcher. They did a lot of slaughtering of animals for all kinds of offerings. Here is a link to a chart I found on the different types of offerings.
One random question that kept going through my head, especially in light of the frequent regulations about cleanliness was if they ever washed down the altar? So many times the priest are called to splash the sides of the altar with the blood of the sacrifice. Washing it afterwards is never mentioned and I looked for it! Wouldn't that get really smelly and attract flies and rats? Shudder!
 |
| The biblical practice of gleaning. |
Leviticus reads like a mash up of several different things. Primarily it seems to be the rules for the priests, but thrown in there is more general stuff about caring for the poor (gleaning for example). Many times the text repeats itself, so it definitely seems like whoever compiled the book didn't want to have to choose between different versions of the same texts but just put them all together.
Numbers is in much of the same mode. We get more rules and regulations but we also get the repeated complaining of the Israelites and poor Moses having to run interference between them and God. Miriam and Aaron die, Moses puts a Seraph on the pole to cure snakebites, the Israelites finally conquer the Amorites and get to live there right next to the Promised Land instead of wandering around the desert.
I keep seeing (with the hindsight of history) glimmers of social justice. For instance, even though women must get permission from their fathers and husbands when making a 'vow' (not sure what this means exactly but it has to do with making promises to do or not do things for the Lord), the law also says that if the husband or father doesn't speak up right away, they forfeit their power to forbid the pledge later. So the idea seems to come across that husbands and fathers can't be arbitrary to their daughters and wives, unlike say the patriarch of a Roman family whose rule was always supreme. There's a lot of little things like that. The Hebrew God is definitely different from Moloch or Baal. He really is much more just and a God of loving-kindness, in spite of all his depictions as an angry, judgmental God.
 |
| All the feasts days |
Much of Leviticus and Numbers has to do with practical ways to regulate society. The problem of inheritance and how to provide for the priests who don't own land but are city dwellers, or how to help the poor (families need to take care of their poor relatives, even if they are annoying!), the whole idea of a jubilee year to reorganize wealth systematically, all this is really an interesting peek into the mind of Bronze Age culture.
Now on to Deuteronomy!
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Plans for Next Year
Next year is shaping into some sort of a plan. It looks like I'll be teaching two sessions of Latin 1. This is great as I always seem to teach something one time and then move on to something else. I would like to have the chance to refine my own teaching/organizational skills when it comes to this sort of thing. So I am happy to get a chance to repeat and hopefully better my teaching ability.
I also will be working on my masters. I have just started Week 1 and so far it is has been pretty easy. LOL. I guess they are kind for the first week. I still haven't quite finished up the reading though. But that is because instead of just reading the section assigned, I decided I want to read the whole thing. Each assignment is due by midnight, Sunday night. Right now I am just doing requisite intro level courses, but hopefully in the fall I'll move on to the 'core' courses. After that I get to pick my specialization. I would like to study sacred scripture but who knows if I'll stick to that after I get through the core courses. I'll need a professor to formally recommend my specialization. As to planning for all this, I have no idea how many classes I can take and not overwhelm myself, but on the other hand, I'd like to be as full time as possible. I ain't getting any younger and if I want to actually use my degree for at least a little bit before I get too decrepit or retire or whatever, well, I'd better get hopping!
So that part isn't resolved.
However, B's year is already planned.
2016-17 - 10th grade
Math -with tutor - we've gone back to good old Saxon again. She'll probably finish up Algebra 1 and move onto Algebra II at some point during next school year. We aren't quite in synchrony with the traditional school year's pace due to bad judgment on my part and math phobia on hers.
Science - she's signed up to take Biology with lab at our local Catholic homeschoolers high school group.
Government - B loved, loved, loved her history teacher this year at the Catholic group's classes, so when she found out the teacher is offering Government next year, she really wanted to take it.
English - B also really enjoyed her Speech and Communications class with Homeschool Connections, so she was very enthusiastic at the idea of taking the same teacher there for a semester of Mythology(fall) and then the next semester (winter/spring) History of Theater.
Latin - with me - this is the only subject we'll be actually homeschooling and not outsourcing.
Religion - I signed her up for a Religion class that is given at a nearby parish. A lot of homeschoolers/public schoolers attend this. I am a little apprehensive about this because I've heard that the teacher can be a bit reactionary and harsh. But B reminds me that she loves a good argument. She's like me, things clarify when they are thrown into relief, as opposed to needing support to feel secure about them. It is the process of adversarial dialogue that brings out the truth. So hopefully this won't become something we regret signing up for.
Voice lessons/community theater/AHG/Homeschool group social events. B is going to have a heavy duty year, next year.
*********************
12th grade
For S, I just went over what he can take at the community college. He's decided he does want to try to take the SAT/ACT. We were thinking he wouldn't because of his LDs and because he just doesn't seem that interested in academics. We thought he could just take his time and attend the community college, figure out what he wanted to do and then tighten things up and transfer to a 4 year college, if that was what he wound up wanting to do. But great if he wants to take the SAT/ACT. I think that's wonderful. I think he wants to go off to a 4 year college, but I am not sure if that's a good idea or not, frankly.
Here's what I think would work well for us next year:
M and Th - 9:00 - Music Theory 1 at Comm. Coll. (this also has a lab)
M and Th - 11:00 - College Composition at Comm. Coll.
T - same Government class that B is taking - honestly, I am expecting this homeschool class to be the most demanding.
Prep classes at a nearby test prep center - these usually fall on a week day evening and then a weekend (usually Sunday afternoon)
Music lessons (piano now, who knows what else - he's taken a sudden interest in the harp).
Hopefully he'll be working part time - we are still trying to figure out if the ice cream place hired him. It has been really weird. They gave him the tax forms to fill out which he did and then returned but he never heard anything from them. He went in again today and left his name and number with the manager who knew nothing about it.
He might add in another class or some other thing. He'll also continue to do physical training 3x a week.
I also will be working on my masters. I have just started Week 1 and so far it is has been pretty easy. LOL. I guess they are kind for the first week. I still haven't quite finished up the reading though. But that is because instead of just reading the section assigned, I decided I want to read the whole thing. Each assignment is due by midnight, Sunday night. Right now I am just doing requisite intro level courses, but hopefully in the fall I'll move on to the 'core' courses. After that I get to pick my specialization. I would like to study sacred scripture but who knows if I'll stick to that after I get through the core courses. I'll need a professor to formally recommend my specialization. As to planning for all this, I have no idea how many classes I can take and not overwhelm myself, but on the other hand, I'd like to be as full time as possible. I ain't getting any younger and if I want to actually use my degree for at least a little bit before I get too decrepit or retire or whatever, well, I'd better get hopping!
So that part isn't resolved.
However, B's year is already planned.
2016-17 - 10th grade
Math -with tutor - we've gone back to good old Saxon again. She'll probably finish up Algebra 1 and move onto Algebra II at some point during next school year. We aren't quite in synchrony with the traditional school year's pace due to bad judgment on my part and math phobia on hers.
Science - she's signed up to take Biology with lab at our local Catholic homeschoolers high school group.
Government - B loved, loved, loved her history teacher this year at the Catholic group's classes, so when she found out the teacher is offering Government next year, she really wanted to take it.
English - B also really enjoyed her Speech and Communications class with Homeschool Connections, so she was very enthusiastic at the idea of taking the same teacher there for a semester of Mythology(fall) and then the next semester (winter/spring) History of Theater.
Latin - with me - this is the only subject we'll be actually homeschooling and not outsourcing.
Religion - I signed her up for a Religion class that is given at a nearby parish. A lot of homeschoolers/public schoolers attend this. I am a little apprehensive about this because I've heard that the teacher can be a bit reactionary and harsh. But B reminds me that she loves a good argument. She's like me, things clarify when they are thrown into relief, as opposed to needing support to feel secure about them. It is the process of adversarial dialogue that brings out the truth. So hopefully this won't become something we regret signing up for.
Voice lessons/community theater/AHG/Homeschool group social events. B is going to have a heavy duty year, next year.
*********************
12th grade
For S, I just went over what he can take at the community college. He's decided he does want to try to take the SAT/ACT. We were thinking he wouldn't because of his LDs and because he just doesn't seem that interested in academics. We thought he could just take his time and attend the community college, figure out what he wanted to do and then tighten things up and transfer to a 4 year college, if that was what he wound up wanting to do. But great if he wants to take the SAT/ACT. I think that's wonderful. I think he wants to go off to a 4 year college, but I am not sure if that's a good idea or not, frankly.
Here's what I think would work well for us next year:
M and Th - 9:00 - Music Theory 1 at Comm. Coll. (this also has a lab)
M and Th - 11:00 - College Composition at Comm. Coll.
T - same Government class that B is taking - honestly, I am expecting this homeschool class to be the most demanding.
Prep classes at a nearby test prep center - these usually fall on a week day evening and then a weekend (usually Sunday afternoon)
Music lessons (piano now, who knows what else - he's taken a sudden interest in the harp).
Hopefully he'll be working part time - we are still trying to figure out if the ice cream place hired him. It has been really weird. They gave him the tax forms to fill out which he did and then returned but he never heard anything from them. He went in again today and left his name and number with the manager who knew nothing about it.
He might add in another class or some other thing. He'll also continue to do physical training 3x a week.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Murder Must Advertise - Book 15
For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Things I don't understand (rant, rant, rant)
There's a lot that is simply unintelligible out there right now. Like how Trump ever made it to where he is. But also I don't understand the whole bathroom/gender thing.
First of all, if there are so many people walking around dressed up like the opposite gender, where have they been going whenever they needed a public bathroom up til now? I have been using bathrooms for a really long time now and never in my life do I recall an obviously transgender person using one. Maybe I just didn't notice? How is this suddenly something that has big corporate bullies and celebrities who haven't had to use a public john in decades, boycotting a state whose legislature voted to try to clarify things for everybody.
Why is it that the liberal 1% are the biggest bullies around anyway?
But what really gets me is, I don't understand this position as a parent. My youngest is 14 yo now but I remember when they all were younger, I would get nervous when my kids for some reason or another had to go use a public bathroom by themselves. I was always nervous about a predator lurking in the bathroom. As a parent you hear all kinds of stories. Don't these people realize that predators look for opportunities to molest? They are opportunists through and through. This whole thing is like people decided they wanted to create an optimum situation so that children and women especially can be vulnerable to some sicko.
The Catholic Church has been dealing with the horror of sex abuse scandals where the whole organization was taken to task (and rightly so!) because it allowed ongoing abuse of children. And yet. . . . here we are priming the pump! The Obama Administration is in on it now.
How is it, that in our society where a mother can get arrested if she lets her kid play alone in their own yard, it is ok to let them use restrooms with grown men? In fact you must or you are a bigot!
We have campuses with 'rape culture' and 'safe spaces' for people so they can avoid 'triggers' and yet it is ok for women who have been assaulted to be forced to share bathrooms with men. Don't we realize perverts will take advantage of the fact that anybody can say they identify with the opposite sex if that is what it takes to further their own lascivious lusts?
There is just so much mass hysteria and a stampeding rush to condemn anything that doesn't smack of the current agenda. It really reminds me of the French Revolution, only thankfully, not as bloody (yet). But really we are going down the path of no freedom in the name of freedom.
Now some girls really want to use the boys room. I wonder how that makes boys feel when a girl walks in while they are peeing? Boys might have a sense of privacy and modesty too, maybe. In my state, there is a case where a transgender teen sued the school system because they would not let her use the boys room. In not one report that I read from the Washington Post or New York Times did they mention the very important fact that the school had given this teen their own bathroom to use!!! (the blatant dishonesty and yellow journalism of today's media is whole another house of horrors). That wasn't good enough though. This person must be able to use the bathroom of her/his choice regardless of everybody else in the school. This is insanity! How selfish can you get? I remember 10 years ago Mark Shea saying something about how it wasn't about tolerance but about how everybody must consent and obey. Tolerance is working out a deal. Tolerance is both sides trying to figure out a middle ground. It is not forcing everyone to comply to your demands. And then declaring that anything less than this is bigotry of the highest order! I am glad the school system is fighting the court on this. They know the chaos that is going to happen in the wake of genderless bathrooms in high schools. And shouldn't everybody? Isn't it obvious? What's wrong with saying, if you are transgender, use this particular bathroom? I would have loved to have my own bathroom in high school!
Why do we have rape culture on campuses? Could it be that we have embraced perverted post-Kinseyian sexuality, that we have mixed dorms and lots of alcohol on campus, even though as adults we know kids are given to too much partying and poor self-control? How about the rampant porn? We have created and continue to create a toxic sexual environment for our children. Now we want 5 year olds to be able to decide what gender they are. When my kids were 5 they very often thought they were superman or some other flight of fancy. To demand schools let a 5 year old experiment with gender is just crazy! This is child abuse! Not only to that child but to all the children that must go along with it.
It's at a crazy level now too. My daughter who teaches middle school said she once divided up the class, boys on one side and girls on the other (uh oh! You can't do this anymore!) and one of the girls said she identified as a boy. My daughter thought this was actually funny because the girl obviously didn't and was the type of kid who would do outrageous things for attention, so she said, ok, whatever. It turned out to be no big deal because the girl was just using it for attention leverage and then forgot about it later. But, geez! This thing makes every little interaction a minefield. That is how deep it goes to an understanding of our humanity. It is a true deconstruction of reality.
One of my sons said that when he was little and he went next door to play with the little girl, she would often make him play as if he were another little girl, to the point of putting on one of her princess outfits. He said he was so glad he never realized this was 'cross-dressing' and something that should make him question which gender he was. He just was playing, you know? He was 4 at the time. Honestly, we have lost our minds.
My 17 yo said something too. How when he was little he was into ballet and gymnastics and he was mad that it was all girls. He said what if he had had parents who pushed the idea that this meant he was transgender. But if you think about it, ballet and gymnastics are the things that are actually genderless, not the people who participate in these things. Our culture is so warped that we attribute identity to arbitrary things. To be a boy right now in our supposedly tolerant society and to be into ballet, or Irish dance or gymnastics or ice skating or horseback riding (check out the summer camps - all girls!) you get labeled as gay. That's where the injustice comes in! And he said anyway, how can you really know that you are supposed to be the other gender, unless there is some physical thing wrong with you. If it is just you feeling out of place, well everybody feels that in some capacity or another. It's the loneliness of the human condition! That doesn't make you transgender! You can't really know what it is like to be the other sex, so it is just your imagination that tells you it's true. He said he could easily see someone, especially if you are little autistic, getting fixated on the idea.
Rick brought up something that I had forgotten. A long, long time ago we had a children's audio tape of music. It was a very groovy folk music type album about peace and love and such. And most of the songs were great. But there was one song that made us laugh. Oh we were so naive. We thought it was absurd! The song was a lull-a-bye but in the intro the singer said that she knew a couple who didn't want to know the sex of their child for the first few minutes after the baby had been born (obviously this was before sonograms became available) because they wanted that child to just be who they were before being limited by their gender. We laughed at this because of course the child already was either a boy or girl and it was just in the parents' mind that he or she was somehow free from this if THEY didn't know it (talk about self-centered point of view!) but also we just thought the idea that your sex limited who you are as absurd. Who you are is who you are and it is biologically based. You don't exist without your body. You aren't some spirit floating around until you find a body to pop into. At conception a new human is created. Catholics believe that at death the soul and body are separated but will be eventually reunited as a resurrected body. You are your body, your DNA, your hormones, what your body takes in in terms of nutrients, etc. Of course you also develop according to your environment too, so that if you are well loved and protected you'll grow better than if you are deprived of these things. And of course, Catholics believe we are made in the image and likeness of God so we have souls and free will.
In this age that is supposedly more rational and scientific, there is a lot of anti-science I've noticed. It isn't just the creationists who believe in the Biblical creation account as somehow scientific evidence. It isn't just the crazy flat-earthers. A lot of it is on the left. They use really hokey science to push an agenda that makes no scientific sense. It is as if they read The Abolition of Man and decided that it was a How To guide rather than a dire warning.
Honestly, I think a lot of transgenderism is disguised misogyny. I really do. (I think a lot of feminism is too frankly. Your fertility is a disease!). If you are a woman who decided you want to be a man, well, obviously you are rejecting womanhood. And if you are man wanting to be a woman, it seems as if the thing you really want are all the shallow bits of womanhood. The looking like Marilyn Monroe, the sleazy stuff that is just there to serve other men's lustful appetites, the make up, the sexy clothes, the jewelry. Dressing is a cultural thing. We could have a society where men and women dress exactly the same. It is like cross dressers thought women's fashion magazines were some sort of pathetic spiritual enlightenment. It really is a twisted materialism.
A couple months ago, when I was taking my daughter to her voice lesson, I saw a guy, obviously a guy dressed up like a woman, high heels (I don't wear them), a really short skirt (don't wear those either), big bouncy boobs in a clingy shirt, a big wig, big gaudy jewelry. He was walking up and down the street in this exaggerated, flouncy way. I kept having to drive up and down the street myself just because I dropped her off then went to run an errand and then came back. I saw him the first time and I thought, what the heck? But then I kept seeing him, walking back and forth. I had two conflicting emotions: 1) that poor guy - how messed up you must be to do that sort of thing. How craving for attention! 2) feeling insulted because he was a really stupid caricature of womanhood and yet this is the sort of behavior that is being enabled and even lauded in our culture now.
We are toxic, especially to those who are emotionally and mentally disturbed.
When I was talking about all this with my kids, it dawned on me how blessed we are to be believers in God. We don't have to search for an identity. We are children of God. We don't need attention, we have a Savior who loves us so much he died for us. That's a lot of attention! We are endowed with dignity and gifts by our Creator. Our dignity doesn't come from inventing ourselves or being absolute conformists with the current trends. God calls us to be who he created. If we follow his will, which is love, we can be who we are called to be. True freedom is following God's will. It is freedom from sin and vice and selfishness and insanity. It is the freedom to be with eternal Love. All this angst and made up contortionist thinking goes out the window when you know this. I pity the secular world. It is such a lonely, confused place to be.
First of all, if there are so many people walking around dressed up like the opposite gender, where have they been going whenever they needed a public bathroom up til now? I have been using bathrooms for a really long time now and never in my life do I recall an obviously transgender person using one. Maybe I just didn't notice? How is this suddenly something that has big corporate bullies and celebrities who haven't had to use a public john in decades, boycotting a state whose legislature voted to try to clarify things for everybody.
Why is it that the liberal 1% are the biggest bullies around anyway?
But what really gets me is, I don't understand this position as a parent. My youngest is 14 yo now but I remember when they all were younger, I would get nervous when my kids for some reason or another had to go use a public bathroom by themselves. I was always nervous about a predator lurking in the bathroom. As a parent you hear all kinds of stories. Don't these people realize that predators look for opportunities to molest? They are opportunists through and through. This whole thing is like people decided they wanted to create an optimum situation so that children and women especially can be vulnerable to some sicko.
The Catholic Church has been dealing with the horror of sex abuse scandals where the whole organization was taken to task (and rightly so!) because it allowed ongoing abuse of children. And yet. . . . here we are priming the pump! The Obama Administration is in on it now.
How is it, that in our society where a mother can get arrested if she lets her kid play alone in their own yard, it is ok to let them use restrooms with grown men? In fact you must or you are a bigot!
We have campuses with 'rape culture' and 'safe spaces' for people so they can avoid 'triggers' and yet it is ok for women who have been assaulted to be forced to share bathrooms with men. Don't we realize perverts will take advantage of the fact that anybody can say they identify with the opposite sex if that is what it takes to further their own lascivious lusts?
There is just so much mass hysteria and a stampeding rush to condemn anything that doesn't smack of the current agenda. It really reminds me of the French Revolution, only thankfully, not as bloody (yet). But really we are going down the path of no freedom in the name of freedom.
Now some girls really want to use the boys room. I wonder how that makes boys feel when a girl walks in while they are peeing? Boys might have a sense of privacy and modesty too, maybe. In my state, there is a case where a transgender teen sued the school system because they would not let her use the boys room. In not one report that I read from the Washington Post or New York Times did they mention the very important fact that the school had given this teen their own bathroom to use!!! (the blatant dishonesty and yellow journalism of today's media is whole another house of horrors). That wasn't good enough though. This person must be able to use the bathroom of her/his choice regardless of everybody else in the school. This is insanity! How selfish can you get? I remember 10 years ago Mark Shea saying something about how it wasn't about tolerance but about how everybody must consent and obey. Tolerance is working out a deal. Tolerance is both sides trying to figure out a middle ground. It is not forcing everyone to comply to your demands. And then declaring that anything less than this is bigotry of the highest order! I am glad the school system is fighting the court on this. They know the chaos that is going to happen in the wake of genderless bathrooms in high schools. And shouldn't everybody? Isn't it obvious? What's wrong with saying, if you are transgender, use this particular bathroom? I would have loved to have my own bathroom in high school!
Why do we have rape culture on campuses? Could it be that we have embraced perverted post-Kinseyian sexuality, that we have mixed dorms and lots of alcohol on campus, even though as adults we know kids are given to too much partying and poor self-control? How about the rampant porn? We have created and continue to create a toxic sexual environment for our children. Now we want 5 year olds to be able to decide what gender they are. When my kids were 5 they very often thought they were superman or some other flight of fancy. To demand schools let a 5 year old experiment with gender is just crazy! This is child abuse! Not only to that child but to all the children that must go along with it.
It's at a crazy level now too. My daughter who teaches middle school said she once divided up the class, boys on one side and girls on the other (uh oh! You can't do this anymore!) and one of the girls said she identified as a boy. My daughter thought this was actually funny because the girl obviously didn't and was the type of kid who would do outrageous things for attention, so she said, ok, whatever. It turned out to be no big deal because the girl was just using it for attention leverage and then forgot about it later. But, geez! This thing makes every little interaction a minefield. That is how deep it goes to an understanding of our humanity. It is a true deconstruction of reality.
One of my sons said that when he was little and he went next door to play with the little girl, she would often make him play as if he were another little girl, to the point of putting on one of her princess outfits. He said he was so glad he never realized this was 'cross-dressing' and something that should make him question which gender he was. He just was playing, you know? He was 4 at the time. Honestly, we have lost our minds.
My 17 yo said something too. How when he was little he was into ballet and gymnastics and he was mad that it was all girls. He said what if he had had parents who pushed the idea that this meant he was transgender. But if you think about it, ballet and gymnastics are the things that are actually genderless, not the people who participate in these things. Our culture is so warped that we attribute identity to arbitrary things. To be a boy right now in our supposedly tolerant society and to be into ballet, or Irish dance or gymnastics or ice skating or horseback riding (check out the summer camps - all girls!) you get labeled as gay. That's where the injustice comes in! And he said anyway, how can you really know that you are supposed to be the other gender, unless there is some physical thing wrong with you. If it is just you feeling out of place, well everybody feels that in some capacity or another. It's the loneliness of the human condition! That doesn't make you transgender! You can't really know what it is like to be the other sex, so it is just your imagination that tells you it's true. He said he could easily see someone, especially if you are little autistic, getting fixated on the idea.
Rick brought up something that I had forgotten. A long, long time ago we had a children's audio tape of music. It was a very groovy folk music type album about peace and love and such. And most of the songs were great. But there was one song that made us laugh. Oh we were so naive. We thought it was absurd! The song was a lull-a-bye but in the intro the singer said that she knew a couple who didn't want to know the sex of their child for the first few minutes after the baby had been born (obviously this was before sonograms became available) because they wanted that child to just be who they were before being limited by their gender. We laughed at this because of course the child already was either a boy or girl and it was just in the parents' mind that he or she was somehow free from this if THEY didn't know it (talk about self-centered point of view!) but also we just thought the idea that your sex limited who you are as absurd. Who you are is who you are and it is biologically based. You don't exist without your body. You aren't some spirit floating around until you find a body to pop into. At conception a new human is created. Catholics believe that at death the soul and body are separated but will be eventually reunited as a resurrected body. You are your body, your DNA, your hormones, what your body takes in in terms of nutrients, etc. Of course you also develop according to your environment too, so that if you are well loved and protected you'll grow better than if you are deprived of these things. And of course, Catholics believe we are made in the image and likeness of God so we have souls and free will.
In this age that is supposedly more rational and scientific, there is a lot of anti-science I've noticed. It isn't just the creationists who believe in the Biblical creation account as somehow scientific evidence. It isn't just the crazy flat-earthers. A lot of it is on the left. They use really hokey science to push an agenda that makes no scientific sense. It is as if they read The Abolition of Man and decided that it was a How To guide rather than a dire warning.
Honestly, I think a lot of transgenderism is disguised misogyny. I really do. (I think a lot of feminism is too frankly. Your fertility is a disease!). If you are a woman who decided you want to be a man, well, obviously you are rejecting womanhood. And if you are man wanting to be a woman, it seems as if the thing you really want are all the shallow bits of womanhood. The looking like Marilyn Monroe, the sleazy stuff that is just there to serve other men's lustful appetites, the make up, the sexy clothes, the jewelry. Dressing is a cultural thing. We could have a society where men and women dress exactly the same. It is like cross dressers thought women's fashion magazines were some sort of pathetic spiritual enlightenment. It really is a twisted materialism.
A couple months ago, when I was taking my daughter to her voice lesson, I saw a guy, obviously a guy dressed up like a woman, high heels (I don't wear them), a really short skirt (don't wear those either), big bouncy boobs in a clingy shirt, a big wig, big gaudy jewelry. He was walking up and down the street in this exaggerated, flouncy way. I kept having to drive up and down the street myself just because I dropped her off then went to run an errand and then came back. I saw him the first time and I thought, what the heck? But then I kept seeing him, walking back and forth. I had two conflicting emotions: 1) that poor guy - how messed up you must be to do that sort of thing. How craving for attention! 2) feeling insulted because he was a really stupid caricature of womanhood and yet this is the sort of behavior that is being enabled and even lauded in our culture now.
We are toxic, especially to those who are emotionally and mentally disturbed.
When I was talking about all this with my kids, it dawned on me how blessed we are to be believers in God. We don't have to search for an identity. We are children of God. We don't need attention, we have a Savior who loves us so much he died for us. That's a lot of attention! We are endowed with dignity and gifts by our Creator. Our dignity doesn't come from inventing ourselves or being absolute conformists with the current trends. God calls us to be who he created. If we follow his will, which is love, we can be who we are called to be. True freedom is following God's will. It is freedom from sin and vice and selfishness and insanity. It is the freedom to be with eternal Love. All this angst and made up contortionist thinking goes out the window when you know this. I pity the secular world. It is such a lonely, confused place to be.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Let's get this party started!
Fall out from the incredibly stupid success of Donald Trump - the GOP is in shambles. I am actually excited at the prospect of a new party. I wasn't very happy with the old one anyway. I've been an independent for a while now. I think the whole Trump thing has divided the sheep from the goats. The goats dominated too long with their talk radio hate mongering, jingoistic hypocrisy.
I am definitely in the NeverTrump camp. Honestly, I'd rather have Hillary in office. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. Hillary has been tried and found wanting. Trump is untried and scary as hell. And think of it, conservatives/Republicans would have to be apologists and ultimately bear responsibility for Trump if he's elected. And Trump will be a worse fiasco then Hillary. First, he is a liberal, so in that sense he's pretty much interchangeable with Hillary. They are rich, northeastern Democrats of the 1%. There was a recent study done of where 1% percenters live and they are living in the bluest states. Which kind of shows you the difference between what the public thinks of liberals (people who care about the poor) vs. reality (liberals are selfish, rich urbanites - painting with a broad bush here. I know some very generous liberals.) But anyway, Trump is unstable and has no impulse control. He will be a disaster in everything, alienating everyone. He's too dangerous. I can't stand Hillary but I don't think she's as unstable. It is better to let her get elected. She'll be a weak, messy president. Then a third party or a reformed Republican party can emerge from the ashes to clean up the mess.
My favorite person in the world right now is Megan McArdle for writing this piece.
My heart goes out to the local and state conservatives who have been totally screwed over by their own party (may it rest in peace). I learned a new phrase, these folks are 'down ballot,' meaning, I guess they are the ones who don't appear at the top of the ballot. I feel sorry for those principled conservatives who campaigned and who work long and hard to serve their communities and this is what they get, an untenable, repugnant, liberal-in-disguise to lead the party. So I feel the right thing to do is shore up those folks right now.
So, when November rolls around, if the vote is close and it looks like my vote is needed (highly unlikely) I will vote for Hillary. If my vote isn't needed, then I will happily vote third party or write in a candidate.
And really, I am excited about a new conservative party!
Let's get this party started!!!!
I am definitely in the NeverTrump camp. Honestly, I'd rather have Hillary in office. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know. Hillary has been tried and found wanting. Trump is untried and scary as hell. And think of it, conservatives/Republicans would have to be apologists and ultimately bear responsibility for Trump if he's elected. And Trump will be a worse fiasco then Hillary. First, he is a liberal, so in that sense he's pretty much interchangeable with Hillary. They are rich, northeastern Democrats of the 1%. There was a recent study done of where 1% percenters live and they are living in the bluest states. Which kind of shows you the difference between what the public thinks of liberals (people who care about the poor) vs. reality (liberals are selfish, rich urbanites - painting with a broad bush here. I know some very generous liberals.) But anyway, Trump is unstable and has no impulse control. He will be a disaster in everything, alienating everyone. He's too dangerous. I can't stand Hillary but I don't think she's as unstable. It is better to let her get elected. She'll be a weak, messy president. Then a third party or a reformed Republican party can emerge from the ashes to clean up the mess.
My favorite person in the world right now is Megan McArdle for writing this piece.
My heart goes out to the local and state conservatives who have been totally screwed over by their own party (may it rest in peace). I learned a new phrase, these folks are 'down ballot,' meaning, I guess they are the ones who don't appear at the top of the ballot. I feel sorry for those principled conservatives who campaigned and who work long and hard to serve their communities and this is what they get, an untenable, repugnant, liberal-in-disguise to lead the party. So I feel the right thing to do is shore up those folks right now.
So, when November rolls around, if the vote is close and it looks like my vote is needed (highly unlikely) I will vote for Hillary. If my vote isn't needed, then I will happily vote third party or write in a candidate.
And really, I am excited about a new conservative party!
Let's get this party started!!!!
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Books Read in April (#11, 12, 13, 14)
#11 Mother Angelica - Actually, I think it was still March when I finished this! Mother died on Easter Sunday. I got it on my kindle the next day and I think it only took a couple of days to read. But anyway, it is a well-written, absorbing story of her life. I don't think I appreciated her enough. Rest in peace, Mother!
#12 Death Comes for the Archbishop by Cather - My AtoZ challenge reminded me that I wanted to reread this. Lyrical, lovely book. Cather was an artist.
#13 Consoling the Heart of Jesus - I read this for a weekly retreat at my parish. We've been meeting almost every Sunday evening for weeks now. Our last meeting is tonight. Father Michael Gaitley knocks it out of the ballpark again with deceptively simple and amazingly deep spiritual instruction. Wow!
#14 Hangman's Holiday - I just finished this collection of short stories by Dorothy Sayers. The first two are about our friend Lord Peter Wimsey but many of the rest have a new hero that I'd never encountered before and find just delightful,. Mr. Montague Egg is a salesman for Plummet and Rose distributors of fine wines and spirits. His bible is the Salesman's Handbook. The fact that he is a dedicated salesman, who can read people well and is clever, helps him solve mysteries that always seems to be cropping up in his life.
For more book reviews, go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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