7 Quick Takes – Unthemed Edition

1. Since our esteemed hostess has commented on how some of us can’t write quick takes without a unifying theme, I’m going to take that as permission to post without a unifying theme, even if it upsets my OCD. *gasp*

2. My sister had her baby! He looks just like her and is long, 23 inches! That’s even longer than GeekBaby was. Not as heavy though. GeekBaby was a solid chunk of infant up until he gained mobility, then he slimmed down considerably. He’s still rather stocky, but it’s all muscle. Terrifying muscle. Everyone is doing well, and I’m very relieved she got through safely. None of the women in our family seem to have babies easily.

3. We went to Miss Mess’s birthday party last Sunday, and there I discovered that my son is every bit as shy and introverted as I am. We walked into the party, and he freaked and tried to burrow into my neck. He wouldn’t come out for cake, to see the birthday girl, to say hi to Mo-Geek, nothing. Finally he went over to Mo-Geek’s house for a little peace and quiet with Himself and Mo-Geek’s husband (for whom I lack a clever nickname) and after a quarter of an hour peeking at the cranky kitty (and being permitted to exist by said kitty!) he was ready to come back to the party with relatively normal behavior of cuddling up with mommy or daddy and just people watching.

4. I tried to take him in the pool, and am sad to say it’s just not possible for me to take him swimming anymore. He’s too frightened of the water, and he’s too heavy to cling to my back like he used to. He’s over 40 pounds now and he can’t stop grabbing me around my neck which kept sending me under unexpectedly. This makes me sad, I love swimming. I wish I could have gotten him used to the water more as a baby, but we don’t have access to a pool. All the local pools are sudivision only, and our subdivision doesn’t have one. *sigh*

5. He’s started going ‘nyah’ at me whenever he doesn’t like something I say (a behavior he’s imitating perfectly from Satsuke and Kanta in My Neighbor Totoro). This resulted in an almost complete television ban for the week. And I just can’t believe the behavior difference! He’s a completely different child, well behaved, less cranky and demanding… It’s wonderful. The TV ban is now permenant, with one thirty minute episode of something permitted in the evening if he was good during the day… and this includes letting me wash his hair without screaming and sobbing and flailing.

6. It’s that time of year again, the time of year I get obsessed with Japanese food. It starts with an interest in sushi and onigiri and procedes to fish flakes and miso pastes and varieties of seaweed, ad infinitum. Poor Himself. This year I’ve actually bought ingredients. It’s sushi or bust. I can’t make it through the year without it.

7. Did you know you can make perfect frozen margaritas in a home ice cream maker? I used 1 cup of lime juice, 1/2 cup of simple syrup, 1 cup of tequila, 1/2 cup triple sec, and about 2 cups of water. Mix this all together, chill it at least 8 hours, and then churn for 30 minutes. They are pretty good, although my neighbor thinks they’re strong. Also, leftovers store well in the freezer, although they take a small amount of defrosting before they’re drinkable again.

The reason I know what my neighbor thinks about my margaritas is that between the time of purchasing the booze and the successful run of margarita through the ice cream maker (there was an unsuccessful run that delayed matters), I found out I was pregnant. So I can’t have any but the teeniest of tastes to ascertain that the recipe works. Which is why I showed up on certain neighbor’s doorsteps with big plastic bowls of frozen margarita, begging them to take it off my hands. They must have though I was crazy.

It also feels weird to say anything about this so early on my blog, but hey, secrecy hasn’t exactly been working out for me. So if you who are reading this could pray for me and the new baby, I would really appreciate it. I’m due at the end of January.

Coda: Bad Bad Day Edition

1. My reference to morning sickness was unclear. Morning sickness is something one can at least try to rejoice over. Migraines, on the other hand, one cannot.

2. Revenge’s AC is fixed and we could afford the repair. Thanks be to God. Also, my initial instincts on it being an electrical problem were spot on, so I’m very glad I said ‘no’ to the home AC recharge kit.

4. The rotten bit of our door frame, according to Himself, is just trim. We oughta be able to pop it off and replace it, no problem. Here’s hoping the damage doesn’t extend too far, isn’t structural, and isn’t termites.

5. I got one roman shade done, then I ran out of staples. But it looks nice, and ought to block the worst of the glare. I’ll buy more staples and finish the other 1.5 shades on Tuesday. Now our Sunday afternoon D&D games will be more comfortable.

6. Sometimes weird is cute. GeekBaby has started pretend Earthbending. Preschoolers who watch Avatar seem to pick one bending discipline to adopt – Miss Mess picked Firebending, especially when she’s angry. GeekBaby’s, while it remains undeclared, is very clearly Earthbending. I’ll try to get some video, it’s thoroughly adorable.

7. We saw Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists yesterday. “Avast, nerds, prepare to be boarded!” has now entered the general household vocabulary. The humor is a little mildly naughty, and they do use the word ‘ass’ (anatomical reference) but on the whole, I have no qualms about having let GeekBaby see it. The language may be too much for other littles, but since I’ve had no success in restraining my brother-in-law from swearing a blue streak in front of my child, ‘ass’ seems mild in comparison.

The story does move a little slowly, so some littles may have trouble paying attention. Whatever my kid’s troubles with sitting still, he will park it for a story. Especially a story with pirates. For this, I am very grateful.

7 Quick Takes – Bad Bad Day Edition

1. I’m having a bad day. Really a bad week. A bad month. And really, it hasn’t been a stellar year, either. At times like this, I have the opening song from Despicable Me running on constant loop, even though I typically hate that style of ‘music’. I’m normally a little morose in general, but it’s hitting me especially hard right now. I’ve been sick several times from several different issues over the past two weeks. And none of them is morning sickness, which I can at least try to rejoice over. It’s all mundane migraines and rubbish.

2. So our car’s AC is out. This is Texas. It’s May. No AC is very, very bad. It’s been fritzing out since the beginning of February, but because it was so intermittent that Himself didn’t believe me till mid-March. Due to business and the unseasonably lovely spring we’ve had, we’re only getting it into the mechanic’s today, after a couple of prior attempts were foiled by long wait times. If it’s in the compressor, I’m going to go huddle down in my closet and cry, then come out and try and cut another couple hundred dollars out of the monthly budget so we can pay it off quickly.

UPDATE: We seem to be very lucky, the mechanic just fixed a car with a similar issue that took four days to diagnose the problem, and he thinks it’s the same thing. It might still be expensive, but at least we won’t be without our vehicle for days while they figure out what’s wrong.

3. Our dining room floor was really filthy. So this morning, stuck at home with no car, I think “why not scrub the floor?” I don’t have an infant that needs frequent attention. I don’t have a freshly mobile crawler or toddler to come wandering into my cleaning. Theoretically, an almost 4 year old should be able to entertain himself for the thirty minutes of floor scrubbing without me having to put something on Netflix* to occupy him. In actuality it took an hour and a half to get it done with his constant interference and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth and declarations that “he doesn’t want to be my family anymore.”

4. While scrubbing the floor, I found out that the bottom six inches of our back door frame are rotten. What the hell? This house isn’t even three years old! We haven’t had a hurricane or any flooding!! Last year we had a drought that caused horrible wildfires just north and west of us!!! I’m at a lost to come up with any possible reason that anything should be rotting our house. That’s not true. Builder incompetence is always plausible.

Himself is going to have to be the one to talk to them. I’m too furious.

5. I’m in the middle of rennovating our breakfast room. The house has a dining ‘room’ (which is really just an ugly chandelier hung in an awkwardly small location in the front of the living area (and it’s carpeted!) but we never use it. Our table is in the breakfast nook off the kitchen, and I shouldn’t say rennovated since the we’ve lived here for three years and the most decorating I’ve done is put up a bit of cast iron scroll work my sister gave me for my birthday.

Anyway, the windows face southwest, and, since the paper sticky blinds I bought fell down, the glare is brutal in the afternoon. So I bought this glorious batik to make roman shades for the windows. I’ve never made roman shades before, but it looks pretty simple, so I’m going to photoblog it and put up a tutorial when they’re done. If that sounds crazy, I admit that it is, but it’s how I work.

I also have a cheap and exciting plan for replacing the hideous light fixture that came in the breakfast. When I’m done, I’ll post before and after pictures of the room.

6. My child is a destructive, hyperactive, weird little perpetual motion machine. I don’t know what I’m going to do with him. I’m afraid to inflict him on public school (or public school on him). But I don’t know if I’m up to homeschooling him either. He’s so terribly contrary.

He’s not all bad of course. But he’s really getting on my nerves today, and he won’t settle down to play with me without someone (usually me) getting hurt.

7. He won’t count 5 for some reason. It’s like living in a G rated Monty Python sketch. “One, two, three, four, six-” “FIVE” “five” *smarmy little smirk*. I need to dig out our plus holy hand grenade. Part of me frets about him not being smart, the other rest knows he’s doing it for pure entertainment value, but isn’t sure how to defuse it.

* Netflix is reserved for keeping him out of mommy’s hair during margarita time.

More more Quick Takes and less bad, bad days visit Jen @ Conversion Diary.

Review: CTS Sunday Missal

Every US Catholic book publisher should look at this missal, and then hang their heads in shame.

The Catholic Truth Society Sunday Missal cost me less to have it shipped from England than it would to buy an American one, either online or in a brick and mortar store. And it’s much, much nicer than anything I’ve seen in the bookstores. It arrived on Good Friday, just in time for the Easter Vigil.

Things I like:

1. Save the readings, the missal provides everything in Latin alongside the new English translation. I’m not a big demander of Latin, but I do think it’s eminently appropriate that the Latin be provided next to its English translation. Also, it might come in handy some day.

2. This missal has real sacred art. There is, admittedly, not a large quantity, only five plates. But they are full color, gorgeous reproductions from the Ingeborg Psalter. I will happily accept quality over quantity.

3. Most Sundays and feasts begin with a short introduction by either Pope Benedict XVI or Pope John Paul II.

4. It’s sturdily and attractively bound for such an inexpensive volume. It lays open very nicely, although it is a little stiff in the front and back at first. The pages aren’t gilded, so the red stripe that marks the Ordinary shows up clearly, making it very easy to find.

5. Before and after the Ordinary are brief sections on Preparation for Mass and Thanksgiving after Mass. My last missal had these sections so buried I didn’t even know they were there till I checked just now.

6. Reading this missal is extremely easy on the eyes. This seems to be a combination of a variety of variables, such as the font, the page layout, the color of paper and print. My poor eyes are extremely grateful.

Things I don’t like:

1. That’s it’s not approved for use here in the US. It wouldn’t be fair to hold that against it, though. All it seems to be missing are the US patronal feasts, and since that’s only Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th, a small insert in the back will fix it.

2. The other impediment to using this missal in the US is that the lectionary readings are from the Jerusalem Bible, which isn’t approved for liturgical use here. This isn’t a huge issue for me, as I prefer to read either ahead of time or afterwards and listen to the readings and Gospel as they are proclaimed in Mass. I have found no other differences between the CTS Sunday Missal and the texts in the US missal.

3. Would it have killed them to add just one more ribbon? (Yellow, to balance the red and blue, please.) While we’re on the subject of ribbons, the ribbons are my only qualm about the missal’s quality. They look like they will fall out, and sooner rather than later. I guess when they do, I can add my yellow ribbon.

Verdict: 5 stars if you don’t care about the lectionary accuracy. 4 stars if you do.

CTS has a similar Daily Missal as well, but that missal would be missing a substantially greater amount of material, and so I probably won’t splurge on it. I do wish someone could publish something this nice for the US though.

 

7 Quick Takes: Organization Edition

1. We’re having a discussion about organization and Meyers-Brigg’s personality types over on Dorian’s blog Scrutinies. Come and join us!

As for me, I’m a deeply ingrained INTJ, a Mastermind, but what interests me right now is my percent Introvert. I’m a heavy introvert, something in the mid 80s. And I’m shy. And socially awkward. It’s the “I’d much rather be a hermit” trifecta. But this explains so much about me that it’s far past amusing and into slightly terrifying.

2. Case in point: Last Wednesday was the day for Confirmations in my parish, so about half my CCE class was at the Confirmation Mass instead of in my classroom. The remaining 7-8 students? All the quiet ones. All the dominant and loud people were gone, and none of the rest would talk to me or answer questions. Trying to carry that class along, even just doing review, was murder. I came home at 8 so exhausted that we sang Compline and then I just went to bed.

3. As far as organizational methods go, I have some rather potent opinions on the available options. I don’t like GTD (my brain really is the safest place to store some things, not file folders). I really don’t like FLYLady (or any of her knockoffs). I positively want to throw things when I encounter recommendations for A Mother’s Rule of Life, and I don’t dare read this book at all, because it might trigger my heat ray vision.

…This does rather leave me up a creek without a paddle or an onboard motor or even a punting pole. There’s got to be something out there I can use. It can’t be too detailed, or following the method just bogs me down. But it can’t be too free form either. It’s got to hold onto the things I honestly can’t remember (and be there when I need it, which rules out a hefty planner) but it can’t demand information that is easier for me to carry around in my head.

4. GeekBaby got up in the wee smas of Thursday morning, used the potty, put his undies and pajamas back on, and went back to bed, all without waking me up at all. I didn’t know he’d used the potty until I was dressing him in the insufficiently later smas of Thursday morning and realized somehow in the night he’d gotten both legs through one leg hole of his underwear and hitched it all the way up around his waist.

It was hysterical (he was so proud of himself!) but sadly, it was inappropriate for snapping a photo. Memory will have to suffice.

5. Even though most of the household was sick for most of Holy Week, Easter went very well. I think I’ve nailed down a traditional holiday menu for posterity now. The recap post is in the works still though, because it’s been a very long week at work.

6. I am so happy that I can have sweets again that I must have gained ten pounds this week. When the octave is over, I’ll return to my usual moderation born of laziness, for now I’m rejoicing in cookies and candy.

7. Our new JoAnn Fabrics opens today. I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself, so I’m going to cut this Quick Takes short and head out to the grand opening. I’ve needed ribbon for the past two weeks and haven’t been able to get at any.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!