Looking forward and other opinionated nonsense

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Finally, I've finished all the household projects. Everything is clean, organized, and in its place. It's a great feeling. I just wish it would last longer than a week (if that). I took pictures of my pantry, but I'm not certain I'm showing. I mean really, the pantry? And I have yet to take pictures of Noah's room. It's nice, and much brighter, although because it's on the north side of the house, under the trees, it's still pretty dark. It's clean, and tidy, for today anyway.

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Doug is using my van this week. Tomorrow he obtains a rental and his car goes to the body shop for a week. I really don't mind being at home without a car. It gives me a reason to say "we're staying home." The kids, however, are bored out of their minds. Summer is so, so long. Two more weeks until school starts for Joshua. Add a few days for the kids at home. Because we are a split family (part at school, part at home) I follow the institutional school calendar, but I think it's crazy to start school on a Wednesday. When Joshua goes back we'll spend a few days setting up our school. We have the annual decision to make -- in the basement or in the kitchen? Today I'll plan my year, order books, and begin making plans.

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Maggie has gone several days now (o.k. really just one) without destroying the paint in the hall (knock on wood). After Doug painted it, I rubbed it with white vinegar in hopes that if it is the smell or the taste that appeals to her, she will be confused. I also am in the process of changing her food, just in case it is a nutritional deficiency. And we stocked up on chewies. If she does it now, I'm out of ideas and she may end up going on a long drive in the country (I'm only partially kidding about that -- Doug said he will not tolerate a dog destroying the house and I can't blame him. But the kids will probably break him down.).

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Faith and I watched Clare and Francis yesterday. It was a fascinating story -- I had no idea their lives were so intimately connected. I think I assumed they met later in life. If you have not yet seen it, put it on your Netflix list or ask your library to purchase it. While I was watching, I started a shawl that I had started and then ripped out last fall. I am crocheting this time, which is much faster for me than knitting. I'll be like an old lady in her dotage this winter, sitting with my shawl over my shoulders. :-)

And speaking of Clare, in celebration of her Feast Day yesterday, we enjoyed Italian bread salad for dinner, and then Pizzelles and Strawberry Gelato for dessert. The Strawberry Gelato was divine. I actually could not think of anything that I had eaten that tasted better. That's really something. I'll post the recipe on my food blog, and really, you have to try it. It's a good reason to buy an ice cream freezer if you don't already own one.

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Did you hear the statement Jennifer Aniston made that women don't actually need men to have a baby? (Of course you did.) Besides the obvious ridiculousness of the statement (um, biology?) I feel awful that so many women actually believe the statement to be true. First, in order to believe that to be true, you have to have abandoned God. You can not believe that God is all knowing and all powerful and also believe that he didn't know what he was doing when he created human beings as he did -- that a man and woman are both needed to create new life. Second, you have to have given up on humanity to say "I want what I want, and I'll do it myself." What a selfish concept -- it doesn't matter what my child wants or needs, just me. Me, me, me. And such egotism -- that I am powerful enough to do it all by myself. No humility. It is one thing for a woman to raise a child by herself -- a child that was created in love, but for one reason or another she is alone. It is another thing entirely to enter into motherhood entirely alone, nothing but a woman and a sperm sample.

O.k. Stepping down off my soap box to go clean something -- a dirty toilet or some smelly laundry. Have a great day.

"The state in which God desires most to find us is that of humiliation. To be little before God is not enough; we must be nothing, nothing at all. This is the foundation upon which He builds, because it pleases Him to make things out of nothing." -- St. Jane France de Chantal

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