KM Culinary Meme

This one comes from The Kitchen Madonna

1. What food does your best friend not like?

She isn't a big fan of eggs.

2. What is your favorite cookbook?

I have one that is a Food Writers Favorite Deserts that I absolutely love. Sadly because of my wheat and corn allergies now there are darn few things in it that I can actually eat.

3. Are you more of a sushi person or a lamb person?

Lamb, cooked and seasoned well beats raw fish any day of the week.

4. Given a choice of something fried and salty or something baked and sweet, what would you choose?

Oh man, give me fried and salty about half of the month. I an not at all a cake person though. My sweet tooth runs more to really good quality chocolates.

5. Do you buy whole chickens and boil them and pick the meat off or does that gross you out? Do your children know what a whole chicken looks like or do they think t hey are made up of four breasts?

Of course my kids know what a whole chicken looks like, It looks like the one that comes in the deli tray from Kroger where I get my grilled whole Chicken. I have never in my life cooked a whole chicken, but then again I have never in my life fried chicken either. I am more of a IQF (individually quick frozen) chicken breast portions kind of cook.

6. How do you feel about butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and half and half?

I am into whole foods, so I prefer real butter and real cream and sour cream rather than margarine or fake stuff. I love good quality sauces. Especially because I am allergic to so many things.

7. (Skip this question if you are a vegetarian) If you are a carnivore, would you be willing to hunt or butcher your meat? Or to watch someone do that for you or would you rather not think of it? Or are you grateful for the animal who gave its life to sustain your life?

I fully understand that some animal gave its life for my meal and am grateful for that fact. But I believe that God intended for it to be that way. If God had wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made cows out of steak and pigs out of ham and bacon!!! I do draw the line at hunting and processing the meat, I leave that to the experts. Heck I barely even cook the stuff.

8. What is the most exotic ingredient or spice in your cupboard?

I have some really exotic grains in my cupboard, like quinoa, and spelt, amaranth and millet because of my allergy to wheat and corn. I actually cook with them, on occasion as a change from rice and potato flour. Sadly I don't know enough about cooking to really do anything with them, but I do own them. I suppose I am hoping some day the cooking elves will come in and make something wonderful while I am sleeping.

So there you go. Now you know that I love to eat but hate to cook. What a shock!

Pax

Forgiveness: Did He Really Have to Make it a Math Problem?

Jesus tells us in the Gospel that we are to forgive Seventy times Seven times.


I always hated math.


The truth of this scripture passage has nothing whatsoever to do with numbers though, it has to do with our being willing to be forgiving as God forgives.

This is a recurring theme in scripture, and one that I keep being reminded of, because I tend to hold on to unforgiveness.

My friend Suzanne and I were deep into a session of venting yesterday afternoon. I thought it was actually good for me to get out how much hurt I had felt for years by a particular person, and then I was relating a new hurt that my daughter had suffered by the inattention of someone who was supposed to have her best interest at heart, but didn't really seem to care.

At the time it felt like righteous indignation, and I felt justified in my feelings, but as I thought about it more that evening, and apparently Suzanne was thinking about the same thing, I came to the conclusion that my holding on to feelings of unforgiveness are only hurting me, and in the face of what I have asked God to forgive me for, how can I not forgive those who have wronged me?

In fact when Jesus teaches about the Lord's Prayer the only thing he clarifies is that the extent by which we are able to forgive is the extent by which God will be able to forgive us.

I have a lot of work to do on that score. Thanks Suzanne for reminding me that forgiveness is for me, not for the one who has wronged me.
Pax

8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, Lets Sing a Song of 5

I'm not sure if I was playing golf today or stuck in an old Sesame Street sketch. You know the one with the numbers where they would count five of a bunch of things, and at the end Frank Oz dressed as a baker would be carrying some scrumptious thing down a staircase and drop them into a big mess.

I played 9 holes of golf today at the par-3 with the angelbaby and one of her friends. My score for nine holes was just about exactly the title of this piece. I guess it is good that I was shooting a consistent five after the first four holes, but I kept hoping to get down to four on the shorter holes.

I have to admit though that my short game is looking better and better, I actually pitched onto three greens on the first try, and I one putted two greens in a row. Unfortunately the rest of the time I three putted, or I over-shot the green with my 9-iron or pitching wedge, or had crappy fairway shots.

The best thing I can say about my drives is that they would make William Buckley proud, because for the most part they were all slightly to the right. When I tried to correct for that flaw and aim to the left I would hit one straight down the middle and end up in the trees to the left or worse on the next fairway. It was so annoying.

So, all in all we had a really great time golfing, and I think it will become a regular weekly activity, I just wish I knew what I was doing wrong. Or maybe my real handicap is as I have said all along that I actually think I can play the game.

Perhaps this is the time to invest in a few lessons.

Pax

What's More Dangerous Than Owning a Gun?

Visitng the Dr. apparently.

Well that is according to the Fun With Statistics post at Adorote Devote.


I love the quotes at the end , "Remember, guns don't kill people, doctors do."

and


"Fact: Not everyone has a gun, but almost everyone has at least one doctor."

This one just about made my day.


Which reminds me, I have a Dr appointment next week, yikes!


Pax

Wishful Thinking of If I Had the Time This is What I Would be Reading

I wonder how many of you know about the Loyola Classics series of books?

Loyola Press has come out with reprints of some of the best in Catholic Fiction from the last century to which I can attest because I have read some of them.

In particular I can recommend The Devil's Advocate by Morris West a gripping tale of the process by which a person's life is placed under the scrutiny of the Church on the road to sainthood. I found this book to be filled with wonderfully real characters and infused with information on the cause for sainthood while still remaining a readable story that kept me guessing as to what was going to happen next. This was actually the first West novel I ever read, and had me hooked, I went on to read everything else he wrote and was a lifelong fan.

I would also like to recommend the John R Powers books The Last Catholic in America, Do Black Patten Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up, and The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream God. These are three stories in the life of a Catholic boy growing up in the United States. They made me laugh and they were filled with tenderness. When they were first published I remember I couldn't wait for the next book in the series to come out. Now you can read all three back to back.

I also love the Rumer Godden books.

There are others in the series that I haven't read yet, but you can bet, that when I get the time I know exactly what I will be doing with it. . . visiting Loyola Classics to find a new old favorite. Care to join me?

Pax

Handmotions in Heaven

This is just too funny, and a sign that we Catholics sure know how to laugh at ourselves.





The two guys in this video are Bob Rice and Chris Padgett and you can follow their links to their webpages and find out more about them.

h/t to Curt Jester for the links. and the laugh.

Pax

Vatican Promulgates Driver's 10 Commandments

We all have seen how horrible the road rage has gotten in the last few years. Some of us may even have been victims of it. Some of us may even have been perpetrators of it. (I am the worst at shouting at drivers who are doing something stupid, just ask my kids).

The Vatican has stepped in to help us all in our "road to holiness" and has given us this wonderful document The Pastoral Care of Road Users. to aide us in our use of the highways and byways as Catholic Christians who hopefully eventually want to get to heaven. Included in this document which is well worth reading the entire document, is the Ten Commandments for Drivers:

I. You shall not kill.

II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.

V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

VII. Support the families of accident victims.

VIII. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

X. Feel responsible towards others.

I may have to print those out and post them in my car, I used to get really upset at mrangelmeg when he stopped to help stranded motorists. Now I will have to think twice about how I feel about that. I will also have to be a little more forgiving of those people who do stupid things that make me mad in the car. My immortal soul may depend on it now.

h/t to Fr Roderic of Daily Breakfast/SQPN for the heads up on the ten commandments of you don't get the Daily Breakfast podcast you really should, they are awesome. At least go to SQPN and check out the other Catholic content you can get, I get three or four of them and they are all great.

Pax

I Wouldn't Have Believed it If I Hadn't Been There

So my youngest daughter went to fencing camp last week. She had such a wonderful time that she bugged me all weekend to remember that the Fencing Club Open Lessons are on Monday nights. She was all ready to continue her career as a fencing fool.

The amazing thing is that she has convinced her couch potato older sister to join her at fencing! They went to their first open lesson tonight. Older sister was in the beginners class and younger sister was in the advanced class because of fencing camp.

Older sister really enjoyed it and is looking forward to actually getting to "suit up", since this week the beginners just worked on footwork and didn't put on fencing gear.

Younger sister was the youngest and smallest one in the advanced class, but kept up with everyone else in all the drills, and was really sad when the class was over.

The instructor told older sister that she had to keep up with the footwork practice so that she wouldn't get sore, and younger sister is all about making sure that they remember to practice every day. As we were driving home younger sister said "I can't wait till next Monday!"

I think they have found a sport that they really like. Praise God.

Pax

When It's Almost Right

Mrangelmeg and I have been taking a summer ballroom dancing class from a different instructor because our normal instructors don't hold classes during the summer and we thought we would lose ground if we didn't keep up with the training. The problem is that this new teacher has an entirely different style than we are used to, and at times it really catches us off guard.

For instance half of last weeks lesson (and from what she said tonight, some of next week as well) was spent on polka! Now I don't want to be thought of as a snob, but I can promise you that polka is not one of the international dance sport competition steps. I am pretty sure that there will be no time in the foreseeable future when mrangelmeg and I will find the need to use our new found skill at polka, but we find ourselves spending well over an hour of our precious instruction time learning how to dance it.

The other thing about this instructor is that she only knows two ways to dance, her way and the wrong way.

Take for instance Swing, our favorite step of all, and the one that we have the most experience in. According to our new instructor after watching us dance Swing the first Friday evening, we are using the wrong hand hold. In order to be dancing correctly in her studio we have to use her approved hand hold even though every instructor we have had, and every video we have watched has told us to use the one that we use and are comfortable with. So at least for the next six weeks, when we dance Swing (she uses Swing as a warm up each week) we have to use the awkward hand hold that she says is "the proper Swing hand hold" or she will continually correct us.

Oh well, we are learning new steps. Tonight we learned some new moves in Cha-cha. And when this class is over, and we return to our regular instructor in the fall we can go back to our familiar hand hold in the Swing and be comfortable again. We just have to take the good from this class and leave the rest.

Pax

Tony Tony Wher've You Been?

So our daughter lost her wallet while she was on a mission trip with her high school at the end of May and we prayed to St. Anthony that it would turn up while they were cleaning up the van that the school drove, or that somehow it would turn up in someones luggage or something, but time passed and no one mentioned it, so we had begun the process of replacing all of her missing identification and other stuff (like library cards and YMCA membership cards). I was trying to not get upset that along with the wallet she had lost nearly 80 dollars in cash, because it was only cash.

I had asked the teacher that took her on the trip to take one last desperate look in the tent that she and the two girls had slept in hoping that it might have been rolled up with my daughter's wallet in the corner and stowed away. At the time she said that the tent had been stowed away with her parents and they had gone on a two week side trip to visit relatives and she promised to check just as soon as they got back. When I never heard from her we began the tedious process of replacing her missing identification.

Today, lo and behold, we got a call from her teacher who had gone on a camping trip with her husband and found my daughter's wallet right where I told her it would be, in the corner of the tent!

Thank you St. Anthony for coming through at such a late hour. And praise God that we had only gotten to a few replacements in the long line of identification items to be replaced (and we had been putting off the more costly ones at that ).

So, I guess all is well that ends well, but I am just wondering if the teacher had just taken the time to look in the tent a month ago this whole mess could have been avoided.

Now, since Tony is back on the job, I am still trying to find my lost keyring, if you don't mind.

Pax

An Hour and a Half Ago . . .

I set out to do a load of laundry, but I thought I would just check my email for a second before I took the basket of dirty stuff from our bathroom up here in the "master suite".

Here I am still sitting at the computer, reading email, checking blogs, doing dumb stuff, and the dirty laundry is still in the basket by the door of the bedroom.

Computers with Internet access can be agents of the evil one when you really have to get housework done.

I am really leaving this time.

Pax

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Joe Kennedy's First Marriage: Still On says a Time magazine article and apparently the Roman Rota, thank God.


I have been following this case from the very beginning, because it involves all the things that make the Catholic Church Stand out in the eyes of the world. . .

A rich influential family;

A man in politics who wants what he wants;

A wife who for 12 years was his helpmate, and agrees that the marriage failed, but disagrees that there was grounds for annulment.

I don't believe that this was done out of spite, though who knows, Sheila Rauch Kennedy isn't Catholic after all, so if she wishes to remarry she may do so outside the church with no penalty. Her ex-husband is involved in a civil marriage and has been since 1993. His chance of having that marriage convalidated within the Church are now dashed. He will have to remain outside the sacraments because of his choice to abandon his first sacramental marriage.

Isn't that what the Tribunal is supposed to do, after all; uphold sacramental marriage? It isn't a clearinghouse which makes it possible for the rich and influential to marry again if they so choose regardless of the state of their first marriage.

I for one am glad she appealed. I wonder how many people realize that they have that right? I don't think the Church in this country is doing enough to uphold the sacrament of marriage. I think it is just resigned to the reality of divorce. I agree with the statement of the Vatican official at the end of the article, that Americans think that annulments are their right if they get a divorce.

I only know of one priest who has ever counseled anyone; a friend of mine, that she probably shouldn't even attempt to seek an annulment because she didn't have grounds. The woman in question was upset for a while, but later decided that she loved her faith and the Church much too much to live outside of it, and chose to embrace a life of the vocation of a single adult after divorce and is much happier that had she tried to manufacture false grounds to force an annulment she really didn't deserve.

In my work for the tribunal I have found that there are many cases where there are grounds for annulment, but in other cases there really aren't grounds. Since I am only trained to help people begin the paperwork I have no idea how far the cases I have helped begin get unless those people contact me later on, which almost never happens.

Happily, I have never heard of any of the cases where I didn't see grounds going on to have an annulment granted, but then that is only because I lost contact with the people involved.

I pray a lot about the work I do. Needless to say. Marriage is sacred, no less to me than it is to God.

Pax

Special Prayers Please

My oldest daughter has been in a really bad funk today and won't talk about it except to say that she had a bad day yesterday. I can't get her to talk to me about it at all.

She is so depressed she doesn't want to eat or spend time with the family she just wants to stay in her room and sleep and be by herself. I don't know if it has to do with her work or her new boyfriend or what. Please say some extra prayers for her, I haven't seen her this sad in a very long time.

I am going to try to get her to go out shopping with me tomorrow afternoon. I have to purchase some furniture (the older girls are in desperate need of new chests of drawers in their bedroom and I have been meaning to get an entertainment center for the downstairs family room for months now because the TV doesn't exactly fit on the one we are currently using, not to mention the DVD player, satellite box and VHS player too. ) So, I asked her to come along to help me make choices hoping to get her out of her funk and hopefully get her to open up about whatever caused her so much hurt.

Pray for us both.

Pax

Celebrate!

Mrangelmeg and I are leaving in just a few hours to drive to the secret celebration of the 75th birthday and 50th ordination anniversary of one of my favorite professors from my gradual school, Fr. Damien, or Damo as we all affectionately call him. I have written about him before, and would do just about anything for this man, and apparently am since I am going to take his seminar on Women in the Old Testament along with my final in the fall (even though I am not taking it for Credit I must be crazy, there are five books that we will be reading just for this one class).

A friend and I decided to put together a little PowerPoint project to display at the dinner tonight that we hope will get a few laughs and show Damo how much we love him. With mrangelmeg's considerable help we have pasted Damo's face into pictures of historical events going all the way back to creation with the theme "How Old is Damo". We wrote a little commentary to go along with it and my friend and I are going to present it to the group after the dinner.

She is the one who is taking the bigger risk, she is taking his class in the fall for credit!

Anyway, I just wanted to take the time to say Happy Birthday Damo, and Happy Anniversary as well. My life has been greatly enriched by knowing you.

Pax

Mental Pause Moment #6 One of The Best Aides in the Struggle to Survive

This maddening roller coaster ride that we delicate women call "the change" has made me a horribly cranky, moody, over-tired, under- aroused, shrew the last few weeks. I know it can't be a picnic living with me. Heck there are times when I would give just about anything to take a vacation from myself.

One of the constant and steadying influences in my life these days has been mrangelmeg. Through all of the inner turmoil of what has been going on inside my body he has been there for me to complain to and talk things over with and try to figure out how to live through these changes without alienating all of my children.

I am so blessed to have him in my life right now. He can't possibly be excited about the prospect of having to live through my mood swings and my night after night of cold fish, lack of interest in anything but sleep. But he never complains. He is always there to try to make things a little easier for me. And he knows when it is better to just leave me alone.

If I didn't have him I can't imagine how I could survive. His love is a real stabilizing force.

Pax

Proof Positive

That humans are homosexual from birth.



LOL


Pax

I'd Wear That!

The Colts Superbowl Rings are here! The first tier version includes 50 diamonds surrounding a synthetic blue Sapphire horseshoe.

You might call it Bling with a message.

Read more here.

Okay, I'm not big for jewelry, but I would wear a ring like that. Too bad I wasn't on the list.

Pax

Be Careful What YouTube For!

Have you noticed the "helpful" changes that have recently occurred at YouTube? Well one of the more questionable benefits of the service now is that while you are watching a video on YouTube if you hover over the image with your cursor the "helpful" YouTube PTB (powers that be) invite you to sample other of their wares that are "related" to the video you are currently sampling.

These are becoming pointedly unrelated and often, in the case of religious content extremely opposite in content.

Read more at Church of the Masses.

Perhaps Barb is right, we need a concerted effort to let the PTB at YouTube know that we don't need the help in finding related content so immediately, we can do related searches all by ourselves.

If anyone has an alternative source for sharable video content on the Internet that doesn't promote sleaze I sure would like to know, because I want to point my kids in that direction.

Pax

Who Knew?

Yet another homework dodge quiz:

Which Duran Duran album are you?

You're Thank You!
Take this quiz!








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What makes this totally funny is the quote at the end "I am so not worthy" which is something we say at Gradual School about being in the presence of certain professors who shall remain nameless, but that is why this just had to be my Duran Duran album even though I have never actually heard of or seen this album before this quiz.

H/t to mimi for the link,

Pax

No Doubt in My Mind!

You Are a Believer

You definitely believe in God - and you're very unwavering in your religious beliefs. In fact, religion and spirituality are definitely big parts of your life. Religion shapes how you view right and wrong, as well as the decisions you make. It's hard for you to imagine how your life would be without your beliefs.

Are You an Atheist, Agnostic or a Believer?

Pax

Survivor:Parents Edition

So we had two parties this weekend at our place:


Oldest Daughter turned 21 and we allowed her to invite her friends over for a night of fun on Saturday evening. The only hitch was none of them got off work until after 11:30, so the party didn't actually get going till well after midnight. When the last guest left and mrangelmeg went up to the mailbox to retrieve the sign he brought in the Sunday Morning Paper! They had a wonderful time, though and were very respectful and very grateful for the food we provided. They especially loved my "knock you naked - turtle brownies.)


Middle Daughter graduated from high school last weekend, but since I was out of town at class we decided to have her graduation celebration on Sunday this weekend. We invited friends and relatives to come over for a cookout and had a nice time. Daughter was pretty happy, and the food was great if I do say so myself. Mrangelmeg cooks a mean hamburger.

After two days of parties I am totally exhausted, but the house isn't all that torn up, which is nice. One of the biggest benefits of the entire experience is that mrangelmeg carved out a nice little fire pit area in the front sink hole, and oldest daughter placed Tiki Torches to light the way down to it, past the fish pond. It turned out really nice. We will definitely be using that a lot more often this summer. Even if it does look a bit like the Tribal Council Circle from Survivor. (at least that is what oldest daughter and her friends kept calling it all evening on Saturday.)

Pax

Random Photograph Meme

This was fun.





(1.) Open Google Image Search.
(2.) Type in "DSCFxxxx.JPG," where “xxxx” is either the last four digits of your SSN or the last four digits of a phone number you often use (home, work, cell).
(3.) When the results page opens up, copy-n-paste the most “random” (and work-safe) result to your blog and post it along with these steps.






When I typed in the last four digits of my home phone number I got this random picture:

h/t to Paul Stokell via email.

Pax

Hapenstance, Good/Bad Fortune or the Touch of God?

How do you know when your life is actually touched by God or you are just having a run of really good luck?

We had this discussion in the middle of Ancient Philosophy Class last weekend. My professor began by saying that he had personally never experienced what he could call a miracle, meaning an occurrence that had no earthy explanation and therefore must be attributed to the intervention of God or angels or some other "higher power".

He then said that he wasn't looking down on those who felt that they attributed every ounce of good fortune that came their way as God's intervention in their lives. But, he went on to posit, if they attributed the good fortune to God, then didn't they have to also ascribe the bad fortune to God as well? If these people only felt that God intervened only to give them good outcome, what was that saying about God and how God moved in their lives.

I am of a mind, (because of the Jesuit influence I suppose) that God is in all moments -- good, bad and indifferent -- in my life. My task is to discern what God is trying to teach me in those moments because I am aware of the movement. I am supposed to be aware of the movement in all things, and I am striving to that goal but I am far from that as yet. I do know that when my day doesn't quite go as I had planned I try to take stock as quickly as possible and see if I can discern what I am supposed to be learning in the moment and repair whatever damage there is.

I am also grateful for the good and the bad both because they are all moments of growth. Don't get me wrong, I am not yet so evolved that I can praise God for the bad fortune that I am living through, but I can, in hindsight, when I can clearly see what I was learning in the bad times be grateful that I did learn.

I can also be grateful that I was not left alone in the spiritual sense because I am never alone when I am aware that God is in all thing.

I also experience God in the sense of my Christian community because they share those times with me, both good and bad. When I am rejoicing they rejoice with me, when I am in pain or suffering they are there to grant aide in physical and spiritual ways.

I suppose my professor wouldn't see the movement of my Christian community as an action of God per se, but in my eyes, what else could it be? I think the Jesuit training has really opened me up to a deeper understanding of how God acts and moves.

What do you think? How do you experience God in your life? Would you like to move from a God who is far away and indifferent to a God who is in all things? I can help you find your way.

Pax

Tag or Homework Dodge: It's a Judgement Call

Kitchen Madonna has a great 4X4 meme that I want to play because as I told her I am sick to death of the Ancient Greeks today and need a break from my Philosophy homework.

You have to state four things you experienced for the first time in the last four years and then four things you will experience for the first time in the next four years.



1. I know this will come as quite a shock to some of you, but I had never in my life been on a silent retreat before I went to Jesuit Retreat House in Cleveland in 2004. I never would have thought I could have made it through the entire five days without the strategic use of duct tape, but I did and it was one of the nicest and most rewarding experiences of my life. I found some answers in the silence that I really needed to find.

2. Mrangelmeg and I began to take ballroom dancing lessons this year. I wouldn't call us dance sport professionals; heck we are barely amateurs yet, but we really do love it, especially Swing. Ballroom Dance has done wonders for our relationship and is a great form of exercise. I am so glad that we decided to take these lessons.

3. I guess Gradual School could be considered something that I have done in the past four years since I started in 2003 and that was four years ago. It certainly isn't like anything I have ever done before and has stretched me in ways I can't even imagine. I am learning so much about my faith but rather than shaking it or making me lose my faith, gradual school has strengthened everything I believe because now I understand why I believe what I believe.

4. I began drinking wine in the last few years. I actually only became fanatical about it in the last year or so. My wine obsession has become a bit of a scary thing for mrangelmeg because he never knows when I am going to come home from a store with another five or six bottles of wine I bought "on sale" or "to try". Since I am the only person in the house that drinks wine it can look a bit ridiculous when you look at the volume of alcohol that is stored just for lil ole me.


Now I get to tell you four things new experiences for the next four years:


1. With the Lord's help I will be crossing the stage, shaking the hand of the Dean of Students and the Rector of the School of Theology next May to receive a Masters of Arts degree in Catholic Thought and Life. I certainly have never done that, and six or seven years ago I would have laughed in your face if you had told me that you saw a Masters Degree in my future. Now, what I plan to do with an MA in Catholic Thought and Life is another thing altogether and something I still haven't figured out.

2. I hope to have completed the book that I am currently writing some time in the next four years. I certainly hope that it is done within that time frame. I am finding it very challenging to find time to work on it at the present time between my commitments to the children and my coursework and, well, sleeping. I'm not quite to the "I'll have plenty of time to rest when I am dead" stage. I try to work some writing time into at least two days a week. It will get done when it gets done.

3. All of my children will be teenagers or older. I am finding that the parenting skill set that is needed to parent this age group is so different than when they were younger. I miss having a child that could be comforted by cradling in your lap, which isn't so easy to do when she is taller than I am. I am also finding that no matter how old they get, they still need mom and dad. (Maybe I just am noticing this because I am so close to losing my own mother to her disease that I am feeling that imminent loss so painfully).

4. My goal for the next four years is to work on my health. I have spent the last four years developing an enquiring mind and learning as much as I can about my faith and the Church that I love. The next four years I want to try to focus on developing my body and making it the best vessel it can be. I am the only one who can make this a reality. Maybe if I make this my goal I will strive to do it. Especially if you all help to keep me accountable. By the time I am 50, (gosh that isn't so far off is it) I want to be in the best shape I can possibly be in for my age.



So there you have it, for things I have learned in the past four years and four things that will be new to me in the next four years.

Anybody who wants to play is welcome to take this tag. I have to stop goofing off and go back to Homer (the Greek writer unfortunately, not the Simpson) and try to get at least another half of a chapter read before dinner.

Pax

*Preview of Purgatory, Perhaps*

So, today I was at the drugstore:

• standing in line

• reading my philosophy textbook

• listening to Abba on the Muzak system.

Was that a foretaste of what my purgatory will be like?

I think so.





Pax

Philosophical and Literal IPod Silence Sunday

Sorry for no Random Sunday playlist yesterday but I was in Philosophy class all day and the came home to what literally amounted to a complete power outage mine (and the energy company's till after midnight).

I took advantage of daylight savings and read my textbook until after nine o'clock. Still can't get used to that phenomenon. And then the family sat together and watched about four episodes of the first season of How I Met Your Mother before my laptop battery went dead.

then we all went to bed.

So I might get around to a Lazy Monday Random ten, but with eight chapters of Philosophy to read in less than a month and two parties next weekend (daughter # 1 is turning 21 on Saturday and daughter #2 is having an open house for graduation on Sunday, I seriously doubt that today will lean anywhere near lazy in the angelmeg household.

I will post a Housecleaning Monday Random 10, Yeah that's the ticket.

Besides I want to post about the awesome Philosophy class I went to. I won't say that this professor will make me a philosopher, but he does make me understand it and after two days I do see light in a very dark forest, which is nice. I may never be able to think like a philosopher, but with this professor at least I won't feel dense in his presence.

Pax