August 2005 Archives

Poor kid, I took this while he was sitting outside the window eating a peach. I am always yelling at him to sit like a normal boy, not a Gollum boy.

From the New York Times:

Two of five authors of an article published in a medical journal on Wednesday saying that fetuses probably cannot feel pain before the 29th week of pregnancy did not tell the journal that they had abortion-related activities that might be seen as a conflict of interest, the journal's editor said Wednesday.

The editor, Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, of The Journal of the American Medical Association, said in an interview that had she been aware of the activities, the journal most likely would have mentioned them. But she added that the disclosure would not have kept the article from being published, because editors and outside experts who had read the manuscript before publication had found it scientifically sound.

One author, Susan J. Lee, a medical student, is also a lawyer who for eight months from 1999 to 2000 worked in the legal department at Naral, an abortion rights group. Another author, Dr. Eleanor A. Drey, performs abortions and is medical director of an abortion clinic.... (LRR NYT)

A lawyer -- from NARAL! Just the qualifications I'd be looking for in a healer.

on Extra Ecclesium Nulla Salus or "No Salvation Outside the Church".

Everyday we drive down the same road to our home and from our home.
Everyday for two years the road we would drive down would pass a field with a little statue to Bl. Kateri and say "One of these days we are going to stop and see what that is all about."
Well, about a month and a half ago we finally stopped.I was ashamed of myself when I read the history of that very field.

The place where Kateri lived for much of here life, Caughnawaga, near the village of Fonda, New York has been marked since 1938 by the Fonda Memorial of Catherine Tekakwitha. The Indian village site was discovered in 1950, a Holy Year, by Father Thomas Grassman, a Conventual Franciscan Friar and founder of the shrine. In that year, Father Thomas unearthed the postmolds where the stockade around the Indian Settlement at Fonda had been, and between then and 1957, with the help of numerous volunteers excavated the rest of the site. Today it is the only completely excavated Iroquois Indian village in the country.

Visitors to the village, which sits on a hill above the Mohawk-Caughnawaga museum and the shrine chapel, can see clearly the outlines of the twelve longhouses and stockade which existed there 300 years ago.

(I will have top stop the car and take some pictures to share in the near future.)
The very next weekend when we attended Mass in Auriesville, it was Kateri's Feast Day. I decided this was a "sign" to take up the cause to have Bl.Kateri canonized.

If anyone else has any special prayers to Bl. Kateri or devotion, I would love to hear about it.

I started doing this prayer each day and noticed a difference in the very least, my outlook. Then I stopped and I started to feel more sour puss.
For example, sometimes I get gossipy about my less than pleasant extended family. I have family who drives me nuts, especially in some of the hard times we hit and I guess as recourse to some of the nasty things they say, I get defensive and tend to have a need to be gossipy. When I do this prayer daily (along with my usual daily prayers such as the Rosary), I do not feel so negative.
I would like to encourage everyone to do this prayer each day-an extra prayer never did any harm.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I love You, I praise You, and I worship You. I thank You for sending your Son Jesus Who won victory over sin and death for my salvation. I thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit Who empowers me, guides me, and leads me into fullness of life. I thank You for Mary, my Heavenly Mother, who intercedes with the holy angels and saints for me.

Lord Jesus Christ, I place myself at the foot of Your cross and ask You to cover me with Your Precious Blood which pours forth from Your Most Sacred Hearth and Your Most Holy Wounds, Cleanse me, my Jesus, in the living water that flows form Your Heart. I ask You to surround me, Lord Jesus, with Your Holy Light.

Myeloma is the form of cancer my father has. My mother found this neat website with tons of info on this cancer,including this neat article about a priest who is a myeloma survivor.

"I am not sure what will come after this, but I have learned not to live too far into the future.
Instead I value each and every moment and experience and above all value the people."

The traditional liturgy, almost forgotten since the Church switched to vernacular tongues for its services, is full of reverent rituals and ornate vestments which were put aside as outdated after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

But these traditions are making a quiet comeback among a tiny minority of young
Catholics who find the strict Roman rite more sacred and prayerful than the loud
guitars and chatty priests they see in their local parishes.

[more...]

Thanks to Karen for the article.

well, eventually: an updated sidebar.

I also am toying with the idea of a new banner. I finally downloaded the GIMP. Hints and recommendation from you graphics gurus out there would be gratefully appreciated....

I like popcorn. Hambet loves popcorn. I don't care for microwave popcorn in the bags. Cooking popcorn on the stovetop frustrates me -- I hate dragging out the kettle and keeping curious Hambet away from the stovetop.

I found a nifty gadget at Tar-zhay -- it's a heavy plastic bowl with a vented cover designed for popping popcorn in the microwave. You just pour the popcorn in, pop it for four minutes, and pull it out when the popping slows down. No oil necessary, and only one smallish bowl to wash. I'm very pleased.

Oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy drugs have been classified as carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation.

WHO's cancer research group - the International Agency for Research on Cancer - announced yesterday that it had reclassified the pill and hormone replacement therapy from "possibly carcinogenic to humans" to "carcinogenic to humans".

[more...]

Novena Prayer in Honor of the Assumption of Mary

Mary, full of grace, all generations rejoice to call you blessed and to acknowledge the great things that God your Savior has done for you. In preserving you from the stain of sin, God already prepared you to be taken to the place that had been readied for you in heaven. As we commemorate this Assumption of your body and soul into heaven, we recall that you intercede for us powerfully in your reign as Queen of the Universe and that you remember us tenderly as Mother of the Church. Seeking the help of your power and the consolation of your gentle compassion, we ask that you join us in praying for the intentions that we now entrust to your loving attention.

As you join in presenting these petitions to our Father in heaven, pray too that we may accept God's response to our petitions with the spirit of joy that marked your life on earth and which now fills your soul in heaven. Help us to long for our own heavenly inheritance, so that we might join with you in praising God's goodness forever. Amen.

For Pansy's intentions: for her family's spiritual and material needs

For Peony's intentions: for the gift of a new brother or sister for Hambet; for healing.

For the intentions of our sisters and brothers in St Blog's: For Dylan and his mother.

For the needs of the Church:
For the needs and intentions of our Holy Father, Benedict XVI.
For the needs and intentions of our bishops.
For the Suffering Church, including our brethren in the Sudan and in China.

two sleepy mommies (you found us!)
assumption novena (thanks for the reminder: TODAY would be a good day to start)
ccli optivite prenatal vitamins (ccli.org -- it's on the sidebar.)
info on nick cannon's family (maybe you should just let them have their privacy)
2 sleepy mommies (you found us)
acidolphilis (looks like we're not the only ones who need to learn to spell acidophilus)
authentic arroz con gandules recipe (glad we could help)
boiling boneless chicken (I like it poached myself)
celestial sun glidden (Peony's kitchen: beacon of style)
christ be our light song lyrics (my parish has moved on to flog a new song to death)
creative memories magazine (It's excellent. I've got the scoop. Email me for details)
daycare syndrome (I think I'll leave that one alone)
dear mr.jesus song video on vh-1 (That was not something to love about the '80's)
episode where steve urkel gets folded up in bed (there must be some fan site out there. Oh, did you see when it happened on St Elsewhere?)
ewtn novena to honor our lady's assumption (ewtn.com?)
flylady daily emails (sign up on flylady.net )
fugit hora (Alas, alas, how it does, particularly when surfing the Internet)

"To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war. To remember Hiroshima is to commit oneself to peace."

- Pope John Paul II on his visit to Hiroshima at the Peace Memorial Park, Feb. 25, 1981 more...

So what movies have we seen thus far?

Stealth
I loved it. Lots of action and suspense. The critics hated it. I don't care, it was lots of fun to me. There is no moral
or lessons or anything. Just some really neat fast jet scenes. That's all I need.

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

This was "pretty ok". I think the whole thing was a way to poke fun at Michael Jackson, but Tim Burton says "no". Besides the fact that Johnny Depp looks like Michael,
the part of the story that was added on and not taken from the book was that poor Willy Wonka lost much of his candy eating childhood to his ambitious dentist father.

I liked the movie better than I thought I would. Tim Burton usually gives me the heebie jeebies. Speaking of which he is coming out with a new movie called "Corpse Bride"...see what I mean? By the way, does he do those creepy Wal-greens "in a town called Perfect" commercials?

That new Herbie the Love Bug movie with Lindsay Lohan.
Um, how could a car that seems to be "alive" just fall out of everyone's memory-yet Matt Dillon doesn't? Strange world. I dunno, it was the second feature after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Otherwise I would have really been annoyed.

War of The Worlds
Miranda Otto is supposed to be weirdling Tom Cruise's ex wife? How old is she?

What I didn't get about this movie is they spend much of the movie running for their lives, yet the kids manage to find lots of time to whine about how their father pays no attention to them. This may be a valid argument, but if robots are vaporising people to the left and right of me, it would be the last thing on my mind!
The flip side-big robots, lasers, aliens and special effects (am I a shallow push over or what?)

Fantastic Four

All the good action scenes are in the previews. Great comic book, boring movie even with as neat a cast as Jessica Alban, Julian McMahon, Michael Chicklis and that girl from Save the Last Dance. Too much talking, not enough action. Even the final fight scene was pretty lame.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

I could barely stay awake.

The Island

An interesting message about the consequences of creating people simply to be used by others. I actually thought the message was so appropriate to many of todays ethical issues, I was surprised they made the movie. They countered the message by making it drag on a bit.

Madagascar

I really liked this. This was like the best of Ben Stiller without the sex or bathroom humor.

Batman Begins
This was so good. Christian Bale is so cute. This movie explains how Batman got his start, how he got his really cool stuff and it is not creepy and Tim Burtony.
There is a really nifty car in it too.

School! I have been taking chemistry since July 5. When I was in HS, I took it in Fiji and it is different, so it didn't count.
I needed the chemistry 095 credit to get into nursing school.

I am really loving the class. It is filled with other nursing student hopefuls. Some just out of high school, some adults. I was very flattered when many assumed I belonged in the first group.
I am also enjoying getting out of the house, sitting back and learning. It has been awhile. Normally I would not have chosen this course of action (to be away from my children), but since my husband lost his job in May, it is something of a necessity.

So class ends next week and we will see what happens from there.