This precious parenting message pretty much says it all in a one-minute video; I hope everyone who sees it will pass it along to friends and family who care about family togetherness and the role of a father in the lives of his children:
Category Archives: My Minutiae
A Message for Women
To all the women out there who think they don’t have talent, please watch this one-minute film and learn the truth!
A GREAT Book Club Idea!
Are you looking for a great read for your book club? Or maybe you are just an avid reader, wondering what to read next?
I heartily recommend that you try this fabulous title, which I recently recommended to my sister-in-law’s book club!
The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family
Laura Schenone’s book is hard to categorize. Certainly, it is a foodie’s delight: the story of her adventures as she travels to Italy in search of her family’s authentic ravioli recipes. Yet this book is more than a cooking chronicle; it is also a touching memoir, one so real, so well-written, that the reader just cannot put it down (I sure couldn’t!).
If I had to write about my life or family, I would want to write it like this! It is a fun, delightful, inspiring, and at the same time instructive book. I have recommended it to several friends and family members, who all reported back to me that it was the best book they had read in ages!
The DISH on Fatty School Lunches
Wow–I only recently learned about the politics behind our childrens’ school lunches when I read a book called The Culprit and the Cure. Here’s what I learned:
- The nation’s school lunch programs are funded separately from the education programs. They are governed by the USDA
- The USDA’s mission is to promote the American cattle and dairy industries
- This means that their job is to help sell more beef and milk
- The USDA, therefore, published the “Food Pyramid” taught in schools all over America
- You can view this pyramid here; notice how milk/cheese products have as big a slot as veggies?
Some Harvard scholars, concerned about child nutrition decisions made by a government office, compiled actual knowledge about science and nutrition to build their own version of the food pyramid. I trust their version a lot more than the USDA’s version, because the USDA courts all sorts of lobbyists and special interest groups and has a mission to promote meat and dairy. Harvard just wants to help kids get healthy!
You can view the Harvard pyramid here. (Notice how the milk and cheese products are up at the top with the junk foods??)
For all you parents out there who are concerned about so much bad food in the schools, there are two organizations which I heartily endorse–please visit their web sites:
http://parentsagainstjunkfood.org/index.html
http://www.healthyschoollunches.org/
Adoptive Parents-to-Be!
This beautiful family is looking to adopt again! Sean and Charlene are good friends of mine who have been unable to have biological children. After two successful adoption experiences they are excited to try again, so they started a blog to introduce themselves to potential birth parents. If you know anyone dealing with an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy who is looking to place her baby with a loving family, I hope you will pass along a link to their web site at http://seanandchar.wordpress.com/ (WARNING: Don’t read their “Dear Birth Parent” letters unless you are wearing waterproof makeup!)
Here’s what I can tell you about this precious family: they are active, fun to be with, and very happy. Dad works in academia and is one of the most dedicated fathers I’ve ever known. Mom is a professional vocalist who left her career (even the opportunity to sing at the Olympics!) in order to be at home with her children. She taught her children to read at very young ages, so they perform very well in school. They are all very athletic (mom runs marathons and they are often outside playing games or sports together), and they do a lot of community service as a family.
This family has already been screened and approved by a very selective adoption agency. Their home has been inspected, their background checks completed, financial/medical records scrutinized, and numerous witnesses interviewed. SIDE NOTE: I find it a bit unfair that this marvelous family has to spend so much time and money on inspections and screenings in order to invite a new little one into their home when there are so many awful homes with horrible circumstances into which children are (sadly) born every day.
I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be young and scared and wondering how to handle an unplanned/unwanted pregnancy, but my prayer is that there will be one such young woman out there who finds Sean and Charlene’s blog. I am confident that anyone who gets to know this family as I do will feel nothing but peace at the thought of choosing adoption over abortion in order to give their baby the opportunity to live with such a wonderful and loving family!
P.S. Please–add this family’s blog to your own blogrolls and links sections; I really want to help “get the word out” as this family makes their first foray into cyberspace. Thank you!
The Great Twilight Debate
What am I reading this summer?
The Twilight Saga
Why not? because I am such a voracious reader that I tend to be very picky–I have started but never finished hundreds of books that were poorly written, edited, or just plain nasty (full of profanity or sex). No, I like my books clean, and I like them tasteful, but because I read so much, I really need a good, well-written plot to keep my attention or I toss the book (I’m a grad student of English–it can’t be avoided!).
The Twilight series just sounded like some hyped-up fad, and as an avid anti-pop culturalist and conservative mother, I ignored it for so long.
Too long!
Now that I have started reading these books, I can’t stop!
Charming characters, light/easy reading, an engrossing plot, and best of all–underlying themes and messages that inspire and compel the reader to think.
As a mother and homeschooler, I’ve heard a lot of trash talk about these books from other mothers, but it is from the same mothers who thought Harry Potter should be banned, so I took their comments always with a grain of salt. Now that I have read and come to love these books, I will be vehemently defending them! 
Would I recommend them to my own daughters? Definitely! And definitely after they are old enough to relate to some of the adolescent challenges faced by the book’s main characters (chastity, friendship, family, standards, etc.), but that shouldn’t be a problem–I have always introduced them to age-appropriate book series (first Magic Treehouse, then Boxcar Children, then Grandma’s Attic, then Trixie Belden, followed by Harry Potter) and I find that by matching their emotional experiences and maturity to the level of the books they read, I am creating lifelong readers because they find such delight in reading about characters with whom they can relate.
As for me, I’m not relating with these characters as much because I’m not a teenager (though the more romantic chapters did make me sigh quite a bit, and I found after that I was holding my husband’s hand more often . . . ), but I am totally and completely enthralled with these delightful books. I heartily approve of the characters’ abstinence before marriage standards and the fact that the book shows just how hard abstinence can be for young people–too many Christian books make it look like a piece of cake, leaving real teens to wonder, “Am I an evil heathen for struggling with this?” As one who waited until I was married (and am oh so glad that I did), I want my daughters to read these books in high school and see that they are not alone in struggling to maintain standards. Not only that , but these books make abstinence look cool. Way to go, Stephenie Meyer!
The Perfect Books for Summer Reading!
What a wonderful series of books I have discovered! After a gruelling semester of full-time grad school and teaching children in my home school, my mother referred me to the enchanting Mitford
I wish I could put into words the inspiring, even therapeutic, effect that this book has had on my soul in recent days, but it is impossible to describe. My advice: go out and read this book yourself! You won’t be disapointed!
It says on the cover that At Home in Mitford (The Mitford Years, Book 1)
What are you waiting for? Get down to your local library and get a copy! This book is not to be missed!
Cute, Comfy, Yet Modest Clothing!
I just have to post about my favorite looks-good and feels-good skirt: the Buckskin by Feel Good Fashion. This skirt isn’t made of buckskin, of course, it has a suede-ish feel to it, but is light and stretchy, though it looks formal and dressy—I love it! While working in the Church nursery each week, I had become tempted to start wearing cotton-ey “frump clothes” until I discovered companies like Feel Good Fashion who make beautiful dressy clothes that feel as comfy as my favorite sweats! Who ever said that women have to suffer in uptight, dry-clean only, un-kid-friendly fabrics and restricting shapes to look lovely??
Here is a picture of my skirt:
Best of all, these companies specialize in modest clothing; especially those great cover-up shirts for those of us who hate pulling our shirts down all day (due to the universality of low-rise jeans!).
Now, some of these companies are WAY too pricey for my tastes (remember, I’m a frugal gal–no way have I ever paid $30 for one of their shirts in my entire life!), but if you can order during their post-season sales or host a “clothing boutique party” in your home for one of their reps, you can get these darling (but expensive!) skirts like mine for free or at a major discount!
Here are my top picks; if you know of any other modest/comfy/cute clothing companies like this (working outside of stores), please send me a link and I’ll add them to the list!
Divinita Sole (modest bathing suits!)
Vintage Hem (skirt extenders)
Talk about Organized!
As I was perusing the darling goods for sale at the Little Bits blog, I was enchanted with the organized state of her sewing room! I sure wish my sewing room looked like this!
Also, scroll through the photos of her school room and notice how perfectly organized and inspiring are her shelves, toy bins, etc! (this entire blog has great ideas, so be sure to look at more than the posting I linked to here!)
My Homemade Knockoff!
I was very impressed with this emergency document keeper recommended by the Red Cross; I remember watching news coverage after hurricane Katrina, watching people sob into the cameras because they weren’t allowed back into their homes, couldn’t claim their cars at government impound sites, didn’t have medical records, blood types, etc. All things that may have been made easier if they had a system for taking important papers with them as they evacuated.
Rather than buy a PortaVault for just my family, I was able to make them myself, which allowed me to make them for my siblings’ families, too (something I couldn’t have afforded if I bought the original). I thought I would show you my knock-off!
I used a zippered binder with a handle and shoulder strap for easy portability:
Next, I created my own tabbed pages for the following categories: Contacts, Medical, Financial, Insurance, Identification, Personal, and Other. I also bought special binder pouches for keeping spare keys, emergency cash, passports, etc:
Then I added empty plastic sleeves behind each tab, to be filled according to these lists: emergency-binder-tab-pages.doc
Now I have a safe spot where all of our medical records, social security cards, passports, insurance policies, and other important documents are ready to grab at a moment’s notice.
For other great preparedness tips, visit www.ready.gov
Or, go to this blog and check out her Preparedness Challenge!
