I disabled moderation about a week ago, and no spammers have shown up to ruin the fun.

I thought it would be a good time to put out Mama's Comment Policy.

I don't really need one, you all are a nice bunch.

However, the official Mama Says comment policy is as follows:

It's my blog. I delete what I want to.

If you leave a nasty, ignorant, or comment full of libel and falsehoods, I may delete it.

But it's more likely that you'll be subjected to public humiliation.

Labels: Blog

I've been pretty outspoken in my criticism of China. The following may shock you:

I buy items that are Made in China.

I have an extremely difficult time finding American made goods to begin with; finding something Made in the USA and affordable is an even greater challenge.

For many items, there seems to be no alternative. Children's shoes, for example. Plastic measuring spoons and cups. Christmas decorations.

When I have a choice, I consciously avoid Chinese made goods.

I choose Papermate pencils instead of the glittery and Pooh- spangled ones; Crayola instead of RoseArt.

It is a classic case of I Would If I Could, But I Can't. Does this make me a hypocrite?

I don't think so. I don't wantonly buy Chinese goods without a thought. I firmly believe that if one has the choice, they should not purchase Chinese goods.

I will not be watching the Olympics, for example. Shoes are a necessity, but synchronized swimming trials? Not so much.

I will still refuse to buy Chinese made goods that I feel are unsafe - things with little metallic charms, red and yellow painted wood.

It's easy to say why bother at all, get what you want. My little partial boycott will not change the Chinese One-Child policy; it won't make life better for any Asian villagers or secret Christians.

But, my choice when added to a million others might start to change the balance of trade between our nations. It might be able to influence products stores choose to carry, or convince an American company that there is a market for USA goods. We are all in this together.

My new policy? Every time I bring a product into my home that was Made in China, I will say a prayer for the workers who produced it, and for God's grace to guide the leadership of the country. And that, I am sure, will change the world.

Will you join me?

Labels: China

I thought I'd record it for posterity, since this blog is pretty much my journal.

Miss C: It's Backwardses! (whenever her clothe are inside out, which happens very, very often.)

Miss V: Hey! We had these same chairs at our old house!
(#1, we've been here for two months, and we've owned the same set since before she was born)

Miss C: Oh! Antbites!
(You know we live in TX when this is the default name for all insects)

Labels: Family Life

I have recently discovered interlibrary loan. Our library is fabulous - they make everything so easy and have a friendly, helpful staff.

Yesterday I had to pick up some books they were holding for me, and thought I'd order a couple that are on a reading list of Pioneer kids books (BTW - looking for suggestions, 1840-1875 frontier life, grade 1-4!).

A young man was being helped by the poor librarian at the next desk. I felt so bad for her.

Young Man: I want to read a book.

Librarian: Okay, what are you interested in?

Young Man: Nothing really, I just felt like reading a book.

Librarian: What kind of book?

Young Man: Well, I'm going to college next month so I thought I should maybe read a book?

Librarian: Uh, well, I have the recommended reading lists for 12th graders? Would you like to look at that?

Young Man: Okay. (Look at list). Are any of these good?

Librarian: Well, they are all literature recommended by colleges and high school teachers. What are you studying in college? Maybe I can help you.

Young Man: Don't know yet. I think I'll just look around for a book.

Well, he certainly came to the right place, I suppose! I think I should have warned him to skip Thomas Hardy if he's not used to actually reading books. I wonder what he chose?

Labels: education, Misc.

Mama Says is hosting week two of the Catholic Women's Bible Study. We're going through Stacy Mitch's Courageous Virtue. For week one, head over to Crystal's.

Here are the questions, please leave your answer in the comments or link to your blog post!



Note: I have excerpted the study questions, but not the commentary or other quotes. The book is copyrighted!

"The simple believes everything, but the prudent looks where he is going" Proverbs 14:15

Questions:
1. Have you ever thought about your freedom to choose your destiny and its importance?


2. Wisdom is a virtue that helps us choose the ways and means of achieving our good. According to the following verses, what is our end? How do the verses shed light on the need for wisdom?

• Matthew 16:24-27
• Matthew 25:31-46
• Romans 14:10-12
• 2 Corinthians 5:10

3. According to the world, how should we make decisions, and what should be our goals in life?

• How does this reflect the world's view of reality and of what is really important?
• Read the second chapter of the OT Book of Wisdom. How does this chapter shed light on your previous answers?
• Explain why Wisdom 2 proves the old adage, "the more things change the more they stay the same".

4. According to the following passages, what are the characteristics of one who is wise? Evaluate yourself according to the standards set in these verses.

• Proverbs 14:8, 14-18
• Proverbs 27:12

5. The virtue of wisdom is the cornerstone of the other virtues and helps lead us to heaven. According to the following verses, how is wisdom to be gained?

• James 1:5
• Proverbs 1:7
• Proverbs 2:3-5
• Sirach 1:10

6. According to the Scripture texts, Who is the source of wisdom?

• Proverbs 2:6
• Sirach 1:1, 9
• Wisdom 7:15

7. What do the following passages of Scripture tell us about the reality of this world and how we should live in it?

• Matthew 7:13-14
• Matthew 20:26-28
• Matthew 6:24-33

8. What makes reality difficult to see? How can we keep ourselves grounded in the truth about this world and God's Kingdom?


9. What do the following passages teach us about the importance of acting on what we know?

• Romans 2:13
• Galatians 6:7-10
• James 1:22-25

10. (Note: The entire question bears careful reading and reflection.) What can you do in the next week to try to order your life according to God's priority for your life: salvation?



Woman of Wisdom: Judith


1. Uzziah praises Judith's wisdom in Judith 8:28-29. How does he account for her great wisdom?

2. What is the first thing Judith does after she makes plans to infiltrate the enemy camp?

3. What does Judith do to bring deliverance to the Israelites?

4. How does Judith instruct the Israelites to conquer the opposing army?

5. How is Judith and example of one who has wisdom? How was it acquired? How does she use her wisdom? What lesson from her life can you apply to your own?

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given to him. James 1:5

Labels: Bible Study, Catholic

My internet connection is spotty right now, so I'll have my answers to the Women's Bible Study up later tonight, plus the assignment for next week.

Crystal hosted week 1, her answers here!

Labels: Bible Study

Imagine, if you will, the Red Cross entering the poorest areas of Southwest cities, going into the weekly motels, and rounding up everyone they can find of Mexican heritage. They write down their name, fingerprint them, and take mugshots. The government demands a permanent file, and the Red Cross obliges.

Sound far fetched?

It's happening in Italy.

I don't know very much about the intricacies of Roma (gypsy) relations with Italians. I do know that the state is rounding up an entire ethnic population, and singling them out not based on accusations but on heritage.

The most disturbing thing is the Italian government's promise to give Roma children citizenship. In my mind, by giving children citizenship but not their parents interferes with the fundamental rights of the family.

A sovereign nation does have the right to regulate who comes into the country, enforce their laws, and control crime. But the wholesale roundup of an entire people, in order to catalogue and document them, goes too far. Especially when that government begins treating members of the same family unequally.

Judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.

Labels: In The News

I was tagged by Soul Pockets for this meme a while ago, and I'm just now getting to it. I wish I could say that I spent the time thinking of the perfect phrase, but I wasn't.
I was shopping at Ikea.

Write your memoir in 6 words. Add an illustration. Pass it on.

Err in charity, you never know...

and

Were you born in a barn?

(Oh, wait, that's my children's life story summed up.)


That's not necessarily an insult. A friend of mine was born in a barn, in fact.



Hemingway started it, with what he claimed were the saddest 6 words ever strung together:

For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.

Who's playing?

Labels: Friday Fun

If you have a toddler, don't go to Ikea.

Because if you do, you'll be taken in by the fabulously sturdy stools priced at only $2.99.

Why, for that price, you'll say to yourself, I could get one for every bathroom in the house!

You'll purchase one for each sink, envisioning halcyon days free of toddlers whining they need the water turned on for hand washing.

Stop, woman, and think. You are about to enable your toddler to have access to running water, any time she wants.

If you have a toddler, don't browse the soap aisle. Stick with a plain bar of Ivory. There is beauty in simplicity. If you happen look over at the liquid pumps, you might be tempted.

Why, brown sugar and vanilla! What a lovely scent, you'll think.

With thoughts of delicious smelling fingers, and the recent scent of your German husband's last stop in the powder room lingering, you'll buy two.

Stop, woman, and think. You are about to purchase a product irresistible to a toddler girl who loves cookies and thinks she is a princess.





If you have a toddler, never, ever let them see you plug the drain and fill up the bathtub.





And if you do not heed these warnings, do not think to yourself, Why, that big ol' comforter is just like a giant towel. It'll soak up 100 gallons of bathwater off the floor, easy!

Because bathwater weighs 8 pounds per gallon. An old comforter holds approximately 945 gallons (I'm estimating, here.) And Mamas of toddlers rarely hit the gym to work on their biceps.

Thinking ahead... will hopefully work for me next Wednesday. This week's already shot.

For more Works for Me Wednesday fun, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!



I updated my sidebar with new steals and deals! Check them out!

Labels: Family Life, Works For Me Wednesday

Just in from Jill Stanek:

Yesterday was the 1st day mill workers were to read a script to mothers at least 2 hours before a scheduled abortion stating "the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being," and "abortion increases the risk of suicide ideation and suicide." The law also states mothers must sign that they understand.

These things are true. Wherever one stands on the personhood issue, it is a fact that an embryo is a unique living human being.

Abortion does increase risk of depression and suicided. Another fact.

Guess what?

Planned Parenthood locked its doors, rather than provide women with this information, as mandated by the state.

Of course, this is the PP spin:

This law, the only one of its kind in the U.S forces doctors to give ideologically charged, nonscientific and inaccurate messages to their patients...

...“Planned Parenthood is committed to true informed consent. We want patients to fully participate in decisions about their health care. That requires that doctors have the ability to provide accurate and unbiased medical information to patients without the interference of government and politicians,” said Stoesz.

They'd rather close their doors than admit that abortion is bad for women, and ends the life of a human being.

Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. - Psalm 28:6


Photo by Darcy D'Neal



A side note and random observation: This ONE post has messed up my blog rating! I'm rated R now, for thirteen instances of the word abortion and two instances of the work suicide.

Labels: Prolife

Great post today by Barb, SFO Mom on St. Francis and Environmentalism.


Check it out!

Labels: Catholic, Linky love, politics

By "we" I mean humanity.

In Italy, some Gypsy girls drowned on the beach. The other beachgoers... chatted on their cellphones, frolicked in the waves, and got a tan, even as the police placed the girls in coffins and carried them away.

Gypsies are hated in Italy. They are seen as theives, moochers, scammers, untermenschen. The government has recently passed laws requiring all of them to be photographed and fingerprinted, catalogued in the official State records (men, women, and children, whether they've been accused of a crime or not.)

Eternal rest, grant unto them oh Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. And may they rest in peace, Amen.

Labels: In The News

We are going through Courageous Virtue, by Stacy Mitch.

Head over to Crystal's for week 1, and leave your comments! Even if you do not have the book, fell free to comment or ask a question.

Next Monday we'll have a recap and new assignment over here at Mama Says.

Labels: Bible Study

Baby godson is home from the hospital and doing well. Thanks for your prayers!

Labels: Catholic, Family Life

My little godson pulled a Miss E and has to have emergency surgery tonight. He's only 6 months old.

Please remember him in your prayers!

Labels: Family Life

Wow, to a man (and Mom), everyone recommended Prima Latina.

What did you like about the program?

Anything you didn't like?

Discuss!

Labels: education

Looking for a Latin program. Not too expensive. For grade 2-3. Able to be taught by a Mama who took Latin in 8th grade for 1 day (I do go to the Latin Mass, it's not entirely foreign.)

Any suggestions?

Labels: education

The best part of the whole video is Pat Sajak's face at the end.

Priceless.



H/T Leave the Lights On

Labels: Duh award, Friday Fun, grammar

Husband dear and I both agree that as part of our homeschool curriculum, we want the boys to learn a trade, something useful that they can use to earn money in the summer, work their way through college, or even support a family on.

Husband dear thinks welding is the way to go. On his jobsites, welders get lots of money and spend a lot of time standing around waiting for things to be welded. It's one of the highest dollar jobs in construction.

In light of gas prices, I think the we should start a home-based business building steam powered cars.

How hard could it be? They used to make them before there was even electricity!

I'm not the only one who thinks steam powered cars are a good idea, either.

Husband dear is not buying it. Sigh. The HOA would probably object, too.

Labels: education, Frugal, Working from Home

Catholics for Obama (!) is circulating a petition to protest McCain's appointment of Deal Hudson to some committee or other.

I laughed out loud when I read the text - written by the Catholics for Obama site:

Click here to sign a petition asking McCain to make sure his Catholic advisors represent authentic Catholic values

How about asking OBAMA to represent authentic Catholic values - like letting babies live, giving them medical treatment, and not endorsing the execution of criminals who are not convicted murderers?

I know nothing about Mr. Hudson and I am not endorsing or slamming him - just the hypocrites at the C4O site who steadfastly refuse to reply to any question or comment I have on Obama's baby mangling platform.

A sample interaction:

Milehimama said...

The reason Obama is linked with voting for infanticide is, in part, due to his discussion of SB 1093 (see page 84)
http://www.ilga.gov/senate/transcripts/strans92/ST033001.pdf


Obama said:
"...the testimony during the committee indicated that one of the key concerns was -- is that there was a method of abortion, an induced abortion, where the -- fetus or child as -- as some might describe it, is still temporarily alive outside the womb."

-- temporarily alive. Obama thought it would restrict abortion too much to provide medical care to infants who were born alive, which is why they would be only 'temporarily alive'. Obama thinks 'temporarily alive babies outside their mother womb' should not be defined as persons.

He goes on to say that to require doctors to provide medical care to a baby born alive, would be to define them as a person, and if we define them (babies born alive) as people, it would restrict abortion.

(Same document, page 84). It had nothing to do with restricting abortion and everything to do with helping ALREADY BORN babies. It specifically states that an abortion which may result in an alive baby should not take place unless there is a doctor present who can provide care to the baby, should it live through the abortionists procedure.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

...straw man discussion in comments regarding health insurance formularies and birth control pills...

Milehimama said...

So, doctors don't want to stay on hold, and somehow that's my fault because I think that the risks of BC don't outweigh the benfits???

And, why not respond to my original comment and the Obama quotes, instead of going off on a tangent about insurance company formularies?

Saturday, July 12, 2008

and finally the reply!

Marie-Elsie said...

Milehi,

Why bother?

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Why bother, indeed. I bother to post over there, because you never know who may be reading the comments and it is a way to at least have the opposing view represented.

Labels: Catholic, politics, Prolife

One of the benefits of blogging, is that it is an easy way to tell everyone you know about something. What's Working for me this Wednesday? Using my blog to help a friend.

Well, everyone you know with an internet connection, and several other people that you don't know at all but happen across your site by searching for "eating cooking oil spray propellant"

In my opinion, seeker, eating propellant of any kind is bad. And everyone else who found my site through Google - the Moonsand recipe is on the sidebar.

A friend from SC wants to head to the Lone Star State for a fundraising marathon, to benefit the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. His daughter, Emma, was recently diagnosed. They are a Catholic homeschooling family and Craig was the leader of a great adult Bible study.

You can donate any amount of money, so if you have something left in your charity budget, head over and help his cause!

Up next: chocolate bars to help the soccer team. Not really. We ate the chocolate.

For more Works for Me Wednesday fun, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.


Don't forget to join us in our Catholic Women's Bible Study! It starts Monday, July 21 but you can join anytime or just follow along. Leave me a note if you want to participate!

Labels: Works For Me Wednesday

...will become the norm for Papal masses.

Good to know... at my last church, I was the only one in the whole church who knelt. In fact, I felt so odd about it that I asked the priest for permission first (well, not really for permission. I did tell him my intention and ask him if he would prefer I receive last or in the pew to make the logistics easier. He encouraged me to just receive in my usual place, and not worry about holding up the line.)

About a quarter of people received on the tongue, however. These were not hippy weird guitar totin' puppet show Catholics. They were devout. It actually was one of the most Christ-like churches I have attended.

I wonder if it will catch on in the states, or if I shall continue to "go it alone."
If you see me at Mass - I'm the only weirdo in the place with my head covered and my knees bent during Communion. With a gaggle of children who talk too loudly during the liturgy trailing in my wake...


...and who take oh-so-flattering photos of people during the sermon.

Don't forget to join us in our Catholic Women's Bible Study! It starts Monday, July 21 but you can join anytime or just follow along. Leave me a note if you want to participate!

Labels: Catholic

I have chicken (split breasts on the bone).

I have a crockpot.

I have no inspiration.

Anybody wanna tell me what to cook? Anyone? Bonus points if it does NOT use an oven!

Labels: cooking

HBO is airing the documentary tonight.


Snippets from the synopsis - read the whole thing here.

Through the personal stories of several men, women and children whose lives are impacted by the stolen-child black market in China, China's Stolen Children brings viewers face-to-face with a crisis brought on by the controversial one-child policy, implemented in 1979 to slow the country's explosive population growth. ..

The film is a powerful indictment of the unforeseen impact of the world's largest experiment in social engineering. One man, Detective Zhu, works full-time to locate missing children, with modest success. His latest case involves Chen Jie, a boy kidnapped at 5 while under his grandmother's car...

Legal abortions are commonplace for Chinese families in the one-child era. Moreover, with ultrasound machines allowing parents to determine gender at 4-5 months, many first-time pregnancies are aborted if the fetus is female.

Hooray for DVRs!

H/T Jill Stanek

Labels: China, movies

Because homeschooling isn't
The same kids

in the same room

doing the same thing

at the same time

in the same way

to achieve the same results

because they are the same age.

---Stephen Moitozo

Labels: education

Aquinas and More Catholic boostore is hiring in the Colorado Springs area. I thought I'd post because I have a lot of mah peeps still reading in Colorful Colorado.

Did you know there was a whole website of Catholic job opportunities? I didn't!

On the same topic, John needs a job (H/T Charming the Birds from the Trees)

Labels: Catholic, Misc.

Leg



Nightgown


My hair.


There's a reason we don't let the two year old have gum. I shudder to think where she found it!

Labels: Family Life

...in a jaw-dropping, head shaking kind of way.

Is the stupidity quotient ignorance particularly thick this week, or what?



"Toddlers who turn their noses up at spicy food from overseas could be branded racists by a Government-sponsored agency."
(Only in Great Britain. Actual news story, not a piece in The Onion. H/T Random Brown.)


"I have repeatedly said that I think it's entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions..." ...and I have a bridge for sale in Arizona...

Obama's spin, trying to mitigate the fallout from his oppostion to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, support of the Freedom of Choice Act, and latest statement saying "health of mother" exceptions should not include mental health or emotional health. Poor man. He doesn't know if he's coming or going!

(BTW, head over to Catholics for Obama and disabuse them of the notion that Catholics care more about social doctrine, such as subsidized daycare for working mothers, than prolife issues. They call any outing of actual facts regarding Obama's votes and statements "disgraceful smears".)

"Like most Roman Catholics, I was almost unsaveable, but with God, all things are possible."
Not even gonna go there. The same blogger goes on to note: "In the following quote, Paul explains that not very many educated people will get into heaven. "
(1 Cor 1:17-29)

Yeah. Okay.

"Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson"
Great Britain again. H/T Catholic Cavemen

Labels: Crazy is as Crazy does, Friday Fun, Linky love, politics, Prolife, Rants and Raves

****Welcome, Visits to Candyland readers! I would like to invite you to participate in an online Catholic women's Bible Study, Courageous Virtue. We'll be starting in 10 days!

Thanks for stopping by! ****

I'm beginning to prep the St. Joseph Academy for Wayward Children, and of course I started by reading a lot of books!

I borrowed several homeschooling books from the library as I try to organize my year.




Some are telling of my fears for the upcoming year - Homeschooling The Child with ADHD, which also includes advice for other special needs.

It is not a book about homeschooling, but about homeschooling a special needs child and one should be familiar with homeschool basics before reading it. It starts at the beginning - getting a diagnosis, and discusses the question should you?

It addresses support and criticisms from family and friends, getting help from the public school system, a few homeschool philosophies that seem particularly suited to special needs, finding materials, and helping your child learn. I haven't finished it yet, but it seems full of good information for both newbies and veteran homeschoolers alike.



Some weren't as helpful as I had hoped - The Organized Homeschool. It's more a Bible study for organization and wasn't particularly helpful to me. The tips were nothing I hadn't heard before. I'm probably going to try Dawn's file folder method.




Some were horribly disappointing, such as Ruth Beechick's A Biblicial Home Education. I had expected to perhaps not agree with everything in the book, but still glean some useful techniques. Ruth Beechick is the grandmother of Christian Homeschooling in America. Surely her book would be great!

I had to stop reading by chapter two, due in part to the unfriendly writing style and partly to the shocking misinformation. She declares that teaching the Rapture is necessary for any true Bible believing church going homeschooler (really? I'm an amillenialist, myself, and that is perfectly Biblical). Her version of the way we got the Bible goes like this:

Church leaders agreed on which writings were part of the "canon" to be added to the Hebrew Scriptures and which were not. When the King James translators went to work, they had more than 5000 manuscripts of the New Testament...
...While all that was going on, other people were trying to tear down God's Word."

A Biblical Home Education, p. 18-19

She includes any translation based in any part on the Vaticanus or Sinaiticus manuscripts as one of the translations "trying ot tear down God's Word". She also glosses over the actual facts of the Council(s) of Hippo, and the 1200 years of Scriptural history between those Councils and the first King James Edition!

While there is a case to be made for the Majority Text (Masoretic Text), it is also a witness, not the original manuscript of the Hebrew Scriptures, just as the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus texts are witnesses to the Septuagint, and not the original texts.

Dr. Beechick claims to avoid the Vaticanus manuscript because it was written by Origen, but Origen lived in the second and third century AD and the Vaticanus is dated to the fourth century. Scholars believe that the Bible by Origen and the Vaticanus probably come from the same source manuscript.

She claims the Codex Vaticanus/Eusebian bible based on them disappeared until the 1800's, when it was rediscovered. Also not true; it was well known throughout the world that the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus were housed at the Vatican library. It was used to produce a Roman version of the Septuagint in the 16th century.

I think she hates it because it is probably Alexandrian in origin, and contains the Septuagint - the Old Testament canon used at the time of Christ by Greek Jews - and therefore contains the deuterocanonical books.

Dr. Beechick claims the Septuagint was written in the third century (She leaves off the "B.C." part, leaving readers to assume that the Septuagint was a manuscript written while the church leaders were trying to nail down the canon. The Septuagint was written and used by the Jews hundred of years before Christ's birth, a very important point.)

How can I glean any information from a book that so obviously ignores history and makes up facts to fit a preconceived agenda? How can I trust any of the other information in the book to be reliable?



I also borrowed Trust the Children, by Anna Kealoha, which I am planning to purchase. It is very modern education/new age, but has tons of great ideas for games in all subjects.

The author and I differ on the very nature of the student; she holds to Socrates' postulation that human nature is inherently good, people only perform evil actions out of ignorance, and Rousseau's theory that people are naturally good, with evil coming from institutions (the Church, specifically.)

I hold the Catholic view that we are all sinners, damaged by Original Sin, and it takes an act of the will (and the grace of God) to do good.

She holds that children are like flowers - they have everything they need to learn, if we would just step back and let them bloom.

I hold that children are like flowers, but they need a careful gardener ready to water and feed when needed, and also ready to pull out weeds and prune back damaged branches.

The chapters on educational philosophy are thankfully short and easily skipped, and most of the book is full of wonderful ideas for alternative learning. I think it will be well worth the $18 cover price, but of course I'm going to try to find it used first!


What homeschool books can you not live without?


Bookcovers from Amazon. Search on the right sidebar to purchase!
Art: Picking Apples, by Frederick Morgan

Labels: education, Rants and Raves, special education