09.29.09
Getting “the call”
So the bishop’s phone rings. On the other end is a person in his diocese, claiming to have had an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
How does the bishop respond?
Read my latest BustedHalo answer and find out !
09.27.09
A nifty little mom-trick
Why do I buy new toys for the kids? All I need to do is put a selection of old toys in a box, leave them in the garage for a few months, then produce them with a flourish and Matthew is over the moon with joy. It’s that old “toy rotation” trick. It works like a charm.
You should have seen the excitement that was generated by the reappearance of this John Deere farm wagon.
I meant to take it out for Lukey to play with, but Matthew intercepted it with shouts of joy. He had an absolute blast moving the figures around. In fact, there were several times that the pig ended up in the driver’s seat. It was all very Animal Farm.
Continuing the Orwellian theme, I had an unpleasant surprise when I took the farmer out of the box: he had been put away last year with pureed prune on his face. (I know: ick.) In addition to being disgusting, it gave him a Farmer Adolf look. Not a good thing.
Luckily, it washed off fairly easily.
Anyhow, Matthew is having a fabulous time with his “new” old toys. As for me? Well, it’s good to be reminded that, when it comes to toys, absence really does make my toddler’s heart grow fonder.
09.25.09
A highly dangerous website
Oh dear dear dear.
An overworked English teacher/mom with way too much to do should NEVER stumble upon Jane Eyre Illustrated. It’s especially hazardous when she is currently teaching Jane Eyre, and is making a Powerpoint presentation for an upcoming lesson plan, and now has all these fabulous pictures to look at and drool over and maybe, if her students are really lucky, add to the slides.
Like, say this lovely image by C. E. Brock (as you may know, he’s one of my favorite illustrators):
If that is too boring for you, there’s the cover of this vintage paperback edition:
I think that thumping sound is Charlotte Brontë turning over in her grave.
Anyhow, it’s my new favorite site. I hereby give it the Time Suck of the Week award … which, oddly enough, is actually a compliment.
Check it out. If you dare.
09.24.09
Thought for the day
“The old version of Mary as passive and submissive is a lie. Look deeply at the story and you see in it a woman of immense strength, surrendered to God but not submissive, humble, patient, tender, infinitely focused on and burning with real love but never passive.”
– Andrew Harvey
Image from Holy Cards for Your Inspiration
09.23.09
Pretty [random] picture of the day
This is where I’d like to be right about now: in a boat on a quiet placid river, just drifting. No Cheerios to pick off of the floor, no tubs to scrub, no papers to grade.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Picture: Young Lady in a Boat by James Tissot
09.21.09
What’s beneath the halo?
Years ago, before reconnecting with Catholicism, I used to be pretty down on the saints. To me, they were nothing but halo-wearing goody-two-shoes, existing simply to make the rest of us feel inadequate by comparison.
Boy, was I wrong.
You can read all about it in my latest column at Catholic Mom.com: All in the Family.
09.20.09
Fisher-Price Retro Chic
When you were young, did you play with toys that are now considered dangerous?
I sure did.
My parents, at their house, have some [apparently] extraordinarily hazardous vintage toys: a Little People house and a Little People Sesame Street, from the very early seventies. My sister and I spent hours playing with them when we were kids.
Unlike today’s Little People, these seventies figures are svelte, cylindrical, and made of two pieces of plastic (head AND body). Therein, I suppose, lies the danger: some child could, theoretically, ingest the smiling blonde ponytailed head of a Little People mother. Hence, we have today’s Little People — those squat, chunky childlike figures, which to me are not nearly as charming as their predecessors.
My parents also have a few of the seventies-era Fisher Price Farmyard animals — a jointed white cow with brown spots, a squat black pig with moveable legs, and a brown horse in truly pathetic shape, missing the tail and the plastic mane and, in fact, nearly everything that identifies him as a horse. But boy, those ragtag animals bring back good memories.
So when I was shopping for Lukey’s birthday, I was a total sucker for this: the 50th Anniversary Retro Farm. Sure, it comes with only two animals — that black pig, my favorite, didn’t make the cut — but the cow does actually look like the one I remember. The farmer also looks a lot like the one from my past, only bigger, with a head that even my voracious Luke would never be able to swallow. And the little lunchbox-like carrying case totally whisks me back over the years, with its cheerful graphics and retro look.
Sure, it isn’t exactly the same as the endlessly entertaining, made-of-way-too-many-small parts farmyard that I loved as a kid.
But it still makes me happy.
09.18.09
Variety is the spice of life ….
… but not if you are Matthew at storytime.
“Want to read In a People House?” I ask him.
“No,” he says, scanning the bookshelves in his room.
“What Makes a Rainbow?” I ask brightly, aiming for the “I’m not really invested in the outcome, it’s just a casual suggestion” tone that is vital when dealing with a toddler. “How about Mornings in the Garden“?
He pulls a book from the shelf and, with a huge smile, brings it to me.
It’s The Berenstain Bears’ New Baby. Just as it was last night, and the night before, and the night before, and the night before. And it’s a sweet and charming book, that is true. But one can only take so much of Small Bear’s achey knees and Papa’s swig from the family honey pot and Mama Bear, who apparently delivers her baby entirely on her own while the rest of the family is off in the woods making furniture. (Geez, Mama Bear! Way to make the rest of us look bad.)
But you know what? If this is the biggest problem I have right now … I guess I’m pretty darn lucky.
So bring on the bears.
09.15.09
Why we need Our Lady of Sorrows
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. To be honest, it’s taken me a while to really get this feast day.
Here’s what the me-of-ten-years ago would have said: Why do we have a feast day dedicated to Mary’s sorrow? Isn’t that just a little negative and depressing? Can’t we highlight the positive instead?
And here’s what the 2009 me would say in response: We have this day because we need it.
See, if I’ve learned anything over the last ten or so years, it’s that there are times when life is just painful. Period. When you’re going through any kind of grief, or heartache, or loss, it just stinks for a while. There’s no way to go around the pain; you just have to go straight through it, steeling yourself, trusting that at some point you will emerge out the other end.
And it’s hard to be in that painful place; man, is it hard. But during the times that I’ve felt huge emotional loss, it helps when I accept, when I simply recognize, that it’s going to be tough. It’s going to hurt like hell for a while. It never helped when people tried to jolly me out of my misery, or tried to reframe my pain in such a way as to make it seem less horrible. What helped, instead, was having people there to hold my hand and acknowledge my suffering … or, even better, to tell me of the times that they too had once hurt beyond imagining.
So when I think of Mary’s sorrow — that excruciating agony she must have felt watching her son die, being totally unable to do anything — it actually helps me. It shows me that I’m not alone. And it’s a reminder that even Mary herself had to ride out the pain, going straight through it, before she could get to the other side.
She’s been there herself. That’s why she gets us.
Painting by El Greco
09.14.09
On the bright side …
I may have a terrible lingering cold, but at least I’ve got these to help me deal with it.
That rosebush is nothing short of amazing … it just blooms and blooms and blooms. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
