Friday, November 30, 2007

Christmas Novena

Today starts the Christmas novena. The prayer below should be said 15 times a day from the Feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30) until Christmas. This novena is called the "unfailing novena". So for all those most special intentions...now is the time!

Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment at which the Son of God was born of a most pure Virgin at a stable at midnight in Bethlehem in the piercing cold. At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, to hear my prayers and grant my desires. (Mention your intentions here) Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Pasta e Fagioli

Which is just a fancy Italian name for what is basically just pasta and beans!!

After watching Lidia of Italy on PBS this past weekend and drooling over her pasta e fagioli Cla and I decided that we must try our hand at it. So yesterday I gathered the ingredients and got to work.

It was remarkably easy, quite hearty, and VERY yummy.

Here is the recipe I came up with (a cross between our own tastes and a recipe I dug up online):

2 large cans of diced tomatos with olive oil, oregano, basil (next time I will use one can of the tomatos and one can puree because I just don't like that many tomatos)

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic (I use minced garlic and just put in a table spoon or two)

1 carton of chicken broth

1 can white kidney beans (canellini beans) drained

1 can regular kidney beans drained

1 cup red wine

spices to taste (I put in a few pinches cayenne pepper, black pepper, thyme)

1 box of any small cut of pasta (I used elbows)

grated parmesan cheese

Brown garlic in the olive oil. Add the tomatos, broth, wine and spices. Let simmer for a half hour. Add beans and let simmer for however long you like. Mine went for a few hours. When you are ready to eat add pasta to the sauce and turn heat up to get a good boil. The pasta will thicken the sauce a little so you might need to add a little extra water or broth when you put the pasta in. When the pasta is tender add some grated parmesan and serve it up! We had it with some garlic bread and it was GREAT!!!

Enjoy!


Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Random Milestones, Thoughts, and Comments about Pregnancy



1. I am 31 weeks!
2. I am now up to seeing the ob every 2 weeks! Yikes!
3. I took my final (my third) one hour glucose test yesterday!!
4. To mark the above three milestones my ob office gave me a really nice diaper bag filled with goodies and coupons including a mat for changing diapers...the exact type I wanted, but couldn't find!
5. I still have gained no weight...I was down 3 more pounds at the doc office.
6. I am pretty sure Ben had the hiccups last night
7. I feel like Sigourney Weaver in Alien as my stomach is clearly and visibly moving from the outside all the time.
8. I received a case of baby formula in the mail yesterday. Assuming I won't need it anyone know if it can be donated anywhere??
9. Free baby magazines that don't include coupons are a waste of my time. (at the same time I have so many coupons for various things that I don't even know where to start!)
10. While pacing the waiting room at the ob yesterday (because after drinking a cup of sugar one simply MUST pace!) I read in Parenting Magazine that 90% of down syndrome babies are aborted! I found that staggering. I was ALMOST as surprised to read a PRO Down Syndrome article in Parenting magazine.
11. Thoughts of preparing my hospital bags have started swimming around my head and I realize I have no idea what to bring....Does this require a duffle bag or a suitcase??
12. Can someone please remind Cla to bring extra batteries for the camera? Mom, maybe stow some away in your purse for him??

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Our Ebay Listings

We are selling several Cherished Teddy figurines on ebay. They make great Christmas presents if anyone is interested in checking them out. All auctions start at .99 so definitely a bargain!:

My auctions

We're Amazon Affiliates!

Yesterday Claudio and I signed up to be Amazon Affiliates. Which basically means if someone clicks on our amazon icon (found upper left of blog page) we receive a commission on any sales. Also I can list what books I am reading or post reviews of books with direct links to those books and if someone should click on the link and buy the book we will receive a commission. Soooo...if you are planning some amazon shopping please consider using our link!!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Applique for Ben

I just finished this little applique for Ben's room. This is the first of a set of 4 little Holly Hobbie type boys. I am going to frame each one. I think it came out pretty cute! I hope its not just because I made it though!! ;)

Thomas Woods - An Open Letter to the Catholic Community on Behalf of Ron Paul

Clearly this blog is rarely political, but the candidacy of Ron Paul is just one of those things that is worth getting political over. Never have I felt so passionately about a candidate or his platform - which is simply FOLLOW THE US CONSTITUTION. It is really that simple. A vote for Ron Paul has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative, it has to do with going back to our foundations...the foundations that work...the foundations that made our country great. So below is a letter written by Thomas E. Woods, author of the NY Times Bestseller, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and 33 Questions About American History You're Not Supposed to Ask that far better explains all the reasons a Ron Paul presidancy is not only right for Catholics, but for all Americans.

An Open Letter to the Catholic Community on Behalf of Ron Paul

Never in my life have I felt as strongly about a presidential candidate – or about any politician, for that matter – as I do about Dr. Ron Paul, Republican congressman from Texas. I’ve gone from being someone so disgusted with politics that I can’t bear to read about it to being a political junkie, avidly following the activities and successes of this great man.
As an American historian, I am not aware of any congressman in American history whose voting record is so stellar, and so consistently in accord with the Constitution.


Beyond that, Ron Paul is not a panderer. He’ll speak to an interest group and tell them to their faces that he has opposed and will continue to oppose funding their pet projects. Lobbyists know they’re wasting their money if they try to wine and dine him. He recently spoke before the national convention of an organization aimed at protecting the interests of a particular ethnic group, and began by saying: "Somebody asked me whether I had a special speech for your group, and I said, no, it’s the same speech I give everywhere."


Already by 1981, Ron Paul had earned the highest rating ever given by the National Taxpayers Union, received the highest rating from the Council for a Competitive Economy, and won the Liberty Award from the American Economic Council for being "America’s outstanding defender of economic and personal freedom."


Dr. Paul, who entered Congress in 1976 and returned to his medical practice in 1984, picked up where he left off when he returned to Congress in the 1996 election. I do not expect to see his like again.


He is also a good and decent man, who really is what he appears to be when you hear him speak. As a physician at an inner-city hospital, Ron Paul provided medical care to anyone who needed it, regardless of ability to pay. He never accepted money from Medicare or Medicaid, preferring to provide free care instead. That’s what people in a free society are supposed to do: be responsible for themselves, and then lend their assistance to those who are vulnerable and alone.


Ron Paul is a candidate who doesn’t insult his listeners’ intelligence, who answers the questions he is asked, and who doesn’t simply say whatever his audience wants to hear. And unlike other major names in the race, Ron Paul doesn’t have to run away from his record, which reveals an unswerving commitment to peace, freedom, and prosperity that is second to none in all of American history.


Although I would have supported Ron Paul back before I converted to Catholicism, I think Catholics will like what they see when they examine his record. Over at Defend Life, Ron Paul comes out decisively on top in a study of the candidates’ positions on the issues according to the guidelines recently established by the United States bishops. (If anything, I think this study understates Paul’s compatibility with Catholic teaching.)


On education and home schooling, Ron Paul is the clear winner. Fred Thompson, John McCain, and Duncan Hunter all voted for the execrable No Child Left Behind Act, and Governors Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney have both come out in favor of it. Ron Paul – as did the Republican Party itself not so long ago – opposes any federal role in education, which is the responsibility of parents and local communities.


In other words, Ron Paul believes in a little something called subsidiarity, which happens to be a central principle of Catholic social thought. Subsidiarity holds that all social functions should be carried out by the most local unit possible, as opposed to the dehumanizing alternative whereby distant bureaucratic structures are routinely and unthinkingly entrusted with more and more responsibilities for human well-being.


On home schooling, Ron Paul has proposed legislation giving tax credits worth thousands of dollars to reimburse the educational expenses of home-schooling parents, as well as those of parents who send their children to other kinds of schools. What presidential candidate speaks like this?


Parental control of child rearing, especially education, is one of the bulwarks of liberty. No nation can remain free when the state has greater influence over the knowledge and values transmitted to children than the family. By moving to restore the primacy of parents to education, the Family Education Freedom Act will not only improve America’s education, it will restore a parent’s right to choose how best to educate one’s own child, a fundamental freedom that has been eroded by the increase in federal education expenditures and the corresponding decrease in the ability of parents to provide for their children’s education out of their own pockets.


When it comes to abortion, Ron Paul – an obstetrician/gynecologist who has delivered over 4,000 babies – has been a consistent opponent of Roe v. Wade, which he rightly considers unconstitutional. But he has no interest in the failed strategy of the past 35 years whereby we sit and wait for a remedy in the form of good Supreme Court justices. His HR 300 would strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over abortion, as per Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution. That would overturn Roe by a simple congressional majority.


Then we could see who is sincere on the issue, and who is just exploiting it for votes. Few in either party really want to see the abortion status quo overturned, since it means they can’t scare their supporters into sending them as much money anymore.


Upon the Pope’s death in 2005, Ron Paul paid tribute to John Paul’s consistent defense of life. On another occasion, he offered an additional tribute, of the sort few politicians would utter:


To the secularists, this was John Paul II’s unforgivable sin – he placed service to God above service to the state. Most politicians view the state, not God, as the supreme ruler on earth. They simply cannot abide a theology that does not comport with their vision of unlimited state power. This is precisely why both conservatives and liberals savaged John Paul II when his theological pronouncements did not fit their goals. But perhaps their goals simply were not godly.


Speaking of John Paul II, it is important to remember that that pope was a strong opponent of the U.S. government’s attack on Iraq, sending his personal representative, Cardinal Pio Laghi, to Washington shortly before the commencement of hostilities in order to insist to the president that such a war would be unjust. The Pope’s first comments after the war broke out were these: "When war, as in these days in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it is ever more urgent to proclaim, with a strong and decisive voice, that only peace is the road to follow to construct a more just and united society."


Before his election as Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was asked if a U.S. government attack on Iraq would be just. "Certainly not," came the reply. He predicted that "the damage would be greater than the values one wishes to save."


After the war ended, Ratzinger said: "It was right to resist the war and its threats of destruction…. It should never be the responsibility of just one nation to make decisions for the world." "There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq," he elsewhere observed. "To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a ‘just war.’"


Hundreds of thousands lost their lives in this obviously avoidable war, a war that was based on falsehoods that we would have laughed at if they’d been uttered by Leonid Brezhnev. But since they came from the White House we cheer as for a football team, and duck the appalling material and moral consequences. A country that (by regional standards) once had an excellent health care system, opportunities for women, liberal gun and alcohol laws, and – yes – lots of immigrants, was turned into a disease-ridden basket case, filled with dead, wounded, and malnourished children, for no good reason.
That’s just wrong, and it isn’t "liberal" to say so.


Likewise, Ratzinger/Benedict is not a "liberal" for opposing the war. He is a moral conservative, but a man whose conservatism is more mature than the sloganeering jingoism of so much of what passes for conservatism in today’s America. Ron Paul is an equally sober and serious statesman, and for that reason was one of very few Republicans with the courage and the foresight to oppose this economic and moral fiasco from the very start.


It is especially satisfying to learn that in the second quarter of 2007, Ron Paul received more donations from active duty and retired military personnel than any other Republican candidate. By the third quarter, he was receiving more than any other presidential candidate, Democrat or Republican. Want to support the troops? Then support Ron Paul.


My main argument to you, though, is not a specifically Catholic one. It’s one that should resonate with anybody who values honesty, integrity, and decency. Ron Paul is a good man who believes in justice and the Constitution, and who cannot be bought. His ten terms in Congress have proven that again and again.
And that is why the media fears him. Unlike the rest of them, Ron Paul is unowned.


Now every establishment hack out there wants you to vote for one of the business-as-usual candidates. Are you really so happy with the establishment that its endorsement or cajoling means anything to you? If anything, it should make us all the more interested in Ron Paul – the one candidate the establishment fears, since they know their game is up if he should win.


Far from being in the unhappy position of a candidate whose children won’t even speak to him, Ron Paul is fortunate to have family members all over the campaign trail on his behalf. He has been married to the same woman for 50 years, and has been blessed with five children and eighteen grandchildren. There are some family values.


Just think: for once, you don’t have to choose the lesser among evils. You can finally vote for someone. You can not only be happy, but actually honored, to cast your vote for Ron Paul.


But don’t just vote for him. Find out about him, and get out there and spread the word.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Baby Shower

This past Saturday my mom threw me and Benjamin a beautiful baby shower. It was held at The Wingwalker Restaurant near her house.

Because I am still way behind in the blogger learning curve some of these pictures are out of order.




This is me and my cousin Katlyn who took great pleasure in loading up a stuffed turtle doll with the ribbons. LOL She was a great help to me sorting through gifts and opening up some of those more stubborn ribbons!



My mom, the wonderful hostess of the shower and a family friend. Can you tell which is my mom? Everyone says we look alike :)




The beautiful (and tasty) cake!



My girls!! The very brave Kori who came even though she knew no one but me! My dear dear friend Jess who flew in all the way from New Hampshire. She is Ben's Godmother and he couldn't possibly have a better Godmother! And my dear friend Linda/Beany who has been my friend since 5th grade!!



Some of my family!



The guest of honor....moi!



The generosity of my friends and family was truly overwhelming. We got soooo many beautiful and practical gifts!! I am so grateful! Ben will most definitely be a very well dressed, warm, and snuggly baby!! Above is the beautiful crossstitch picture my friend Linda made. I also got lots of handmade sweaters, hats, and blankets and all the bedding and clothes a little fellow could ever need!

Now I just have to set up the nursery and organize everything! Daunting!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Reshuffle #5

I think this is the final bit of shuffling....which is good since I think that is about all I have in me for now LOL...Anyway this may seem like a small job but it literally took me all afternoon to sort through everything and organize it and then try to fit it in. I am looking at these pics and it doesn't look all that tidy, but really it is...its just the pics....no really!! LOL




THE Cabinet! We got this cabinet I think in the Spring to put my sewing and craft stuff in....and yes I JUST got to actually doing it in mid-November. I guess better late than never!


Left side is all my embroidery/cross stitch stuff.




Middle is my fabric


Right is the sewing machine (yes it is Disney LOL)

Bottom is books and boxes of scrap fabric somewhat organized by size.

(Mini) House Reshuffling #4

Just a little anecdote. The teddy bears on the top two shelves are brothers. Their names are Doolittle Buckshot and Doomore Buckshot! I love that. They came with those names.



Here is Ben's bookcase. All sorts of different stuff here from The Velveteen Rabbit to 6 volumes of My Book House that we found at a library book sale for just a couple bucks!

House Reshuffling #3

Well this isn't really a reshuffling, but I scoured, scrubbed, washed, and organized my kitchen within an inch of its life. It is literally sparkling at the moment.


MORE Sweaters for Benjamin..

Well, this is going to be one WARM kid that is for sure!! These four sweaters were given to me as a kid to use with my dolls! I can't remember who made them or who they were made for. I kept them all these years and they are in perfect condition. I washed them yesterday and now they are ready for Ben to grow into them!



The yellow and green sweater reminds me of Bert and Ernie :)



I love the hat with the earflaps :)



And just had to add the above. Went into the purple room to take the pictures only to find little Mr. Bunny taking a snooze. This is teh day bed we just moved into that room and it has quickly become a favorite spot for his afternoon snooze.

PS...pics taken with my phone (as always) hence the poor quality.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Some Progress With Our Cat



So we have been working on Bunny's sick addiction. Just now he came up from the basement, got a bite of kibble from his bowl, and came over to the bathroom door (which we do try to keep closed, but I swear this cat is Houdini...he can open anything) and started opening it!!! So I turned around and said, "Bunny! You know you are not allowed to do that.....go drink from your water bowl." So he turned around and went to drink from his water bowl...LOL....have you ever heard of such an obedient cat?!

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Step #2 In House Reshuffling

Well we got the hardest part of this week's reshuffling done. That is we moved the daybed from the yellow room to the purple. Our bedrooms are soooo small! With the daybed and there is a desk on the opposite wall that is just about it in terms of space!

Anyway, here is the daybed in the purple room. I just bought this daybed cover in the spring....not expecting to be pregnant or to be moving it into another (non matching) room. But such is life. We don't have the money at the moment to buy new bedding (besides what a waste that would be! This cover is brand new) nor the ambition to paint....especially since we LOVE the purple.



Here is the window seat we built last spring. It was the perfect little nook. And the top is hinged so there is storage inside.



Here is the cushion my mom and I labored an entire afternoon on!! I LOVE the fabric (which matches the walls perfectly and is just another reason why I don't want to paint!). It took us forever to figure out how to put the piping in the seam, how to seam the corners, and how to sew the bottom on...which basically means it took us forever to figure out the whole thing. All things considered I am quite pleased with it!

Me and Benjamin

I had to think long and hard before deciding whether or not to post this picture (for obvious reasons......I mean gosh, just look at it!). But I decided a pregnancy shouldn't get by without at least one, good, embarrassing picture of a growing belly posted for all to see. So here is mine! I am 27 weeks pregnant...and I won't get into explaining why I am wearing such a strange outfit or why I have such a strange expression on my face...just take it for what it is :)


Friday, November 02, 2007

Pawcohiccora

So anyone in my close circle...family, close friends, bouncers...know that for the last 5-6 years, I have been trying to get a hold of hickory nuts. I have been obsessed with hickory nuts.

Hickory nuts grow wild in the Eastern U.S., and a couple varieties, namely the shagbark and the shellbark, are really tasty. The Indians ate them. The colonists ate them. Everyone on this blessed continent ate them. I ate a few once. I found them in the woods. I liked them VERY MUCH.

So I wanted to get some more. But notwithstanding being in the most grossly consumerist society in human history, surrounded by ipods, Pepsi Jazz, and giant inflatable lawn bubbles, I couldn't find anyone locally who sold a good-tasting nut produced by the boatloads from a commonly occurring domestic tree.

Nice.

So why didn't I just go out and pick more then? Ah, well on more than a few occasions I trudged out to the woods along the Neshaminy to do just that. And I found many many many hickory trees. But hickories are really really really tall trees. And in the woods, their nut-bearing branches are waaaay up in the canopy. The canopy where squirrels are happily trouncing around, gorging themselves, and dropping the bad nuts and the shells all around a member of the primate family who happens to be the least arboreal species of the bunch.

Again, nice.

My better half managed to scrape me up some from an internet site one year, for which I was insanely grateful, but since then it's been dry.

Well, you can imagine my exquisite delight then, when she points me to this post at Trinity Acres:

Hickory Nuts Anyone?

Gasp.

Julie gladly sent me some samples but refused to charge me for them yet because she wasn't sure they were going to taste good.

Well, they taste every bit as good as I remember, and I now recall why it was I became obsessed with these little things to begin with. Send us an invoice, and tell Sam he can count on a regular customer!!!

Step #1 in House Reshuffling

So in an effort to make more room in our relatively small house and to finally get things organized (after 4 years living here we thought it was time LOL). We decided to take our big couch and move it into the basement and make a small family room area down there. It involved rearranging the entire basement and stratigically fitting/moving all of Cla's Arx "stuff" (binding machinery etc)

So here is our updated living room. The loveseat is where the couch used to be, the rocking chair is where the loveseat used to be. And the rocking chair used to be upstairs. Lots more space now....and its echo-y!


Here is the couch in the basement, our computer and Cla's mammoth printer! This makes up part of our "family room".



Here are some of the bookshelves we are using as room dividers. They split the area of the family room and Cla's Arx office. The exercise machine will be moved LOL



So this is basically the family area..Pretty nice sized space.



And here is Cla's Arx office...now on the other side of the basement. The guys are making covers.



This weekend we are up to the second floor to rearrange the two spare bedrooms to make one into the nursery. After that we will be pretty baby ready! Which is good since I dreamt last night that I gave birth!