August 2007 Archives

There, did that grab your attention?

That title's worthy of an essay, isn't it? Or at least a really long, well-thought out, annotated post. Alas, I won't be serving one of those up; just some scattered thoughts. I wanted to write something short on Deathly Hallows, and then with Pansy's post....

First, Pansy's post. I'm not getting into the Harry = Evil Witchcraft!!!!! thing because there are plenty of other people who have responded to those concerns -- for example, Nancy Brown.

I read the first three books back in 2000. I didn't think they were The Greatest Thing Ever, but I thought they were clever and diverting and I could see why kids liked them. For myself, I enjoyed the funny stuff -- the dog-Latin, the details of the Wizarding word, the outrageous names -- and the satire. I was pleased to read a new book for kids in which evil was evil, good was good, and heroism was celebrated and not sneered at. And I enjoyed the mysteries, with the twists at the end.

My sister encouraged me to pick the series back up again, and I read Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix in 2005. This time, I was hooked by the increasing complexity of the story -- and the increasing complexity of the characters.

And I think the characters are what I like best about the books. Good guys who act like bad guys; bad guys who act like good guys; bad guys who think they're good guys; good guys who are loving and giving and brave and still have very serious faults. I think it would be so much fun to read the books with a pre-teen or a teen -- what great discussions you could get into! "Was Harry being fair in that situation?" "Why do you think so-and-so's acting this way?"

Rowling has also laid her clues carefully. I'm rereading the books now with an eye toward all the clues I'd missed, the little details that seemed insignificant the first time around but have new meaning now that the series is complete. Again, I think you could have a lot of fun reading these books with teenagers and teaching them to read closely, paying attention to recurring phrases and themes and allusions. ("What do you think Argus Filch's name tells us about him? And the name of his cat?")

And yes, I'm very happy to read books aimed at teens in which dating couples sleep in separate bedrooms, in which babies are blessings, in which being open to life is presented as a sign of generosity.

So that's why I like the Potter books: clever puzzles, interesting characters, lots to talk about, and a world view that values duty, generosity, self-sacrifice.

Now for the other stuff, which will go in the extended entry because it's full of Deathly Hallows spoilers:

It has been years now since pop culture has been embraced by Harry Potter madness and people seem to have long ago decided if they are for or against HP. Why keep beating a dead horse? I wonder why these books are the source of so much consternation...

I'm sorry, I just can't seem to be moved to any kind of emotion on this topic. I think that is because I don't really care for Harry Potter. I hate saying that in public because people draw the conclusion that a religious, Christian, conservative, homeschooling mother such as myself takes issue with the morality or the witchcraft or whatever. Or at least I do not like to voice out loud I don't care much for Harry because I do not want that assumption made of me. But I don't like HP because I find it boring. There, I said it. I actually do not hate it either. I just could not get into the books despite many attempts, and I fell asleep watching the last two movies.The movies are monotonous to me. I find the little details of living in a wizardry world fun, but beyond that, there is little attraction for me.

Rosey Posey (who despite being my child, is a totally seperate person with very different opinions) enjoys the books a great deal and desperately tried to make the last book stretch as long as possible. However, she has told me that she finds not well written. She said there are other book series she finds much better that do not get nearly as much publicity such as The Artemis Fowl Series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Ender Saga.

I would just love to here a discussion about what people enjoy or do not enjoy about the series without all the "Aren't these books fantastic because now even inner-city minority children are reading because of them!" or "they are instruments of the devil", or whatever other cliches we are used to hearing about them.

I now have 23 suppers in the freezer. All are labeled, wrapped, and bagged with dates and directions on top.

It was not that bad work wise. I think because my husband saw this as a worthwhile effort and helped out a bit with the kids. I also enlisted the help of Posco. He helped me roll meatballs, stirred things that needed stirring on the stove while I did other stuff, and kept an eye on meat that was browning.

Again, I spread it out in three morning sessions instead of one day-long session. I am not sure if it is easier this way or not, but it what I could get done.

I have a freezer inventory chart taped above my freezer with the current inventory. From that I made a menu for each day with "What's for Dinner" (if my kids want to make me crazy, they start the "Mom, what's for dinner," chant.). The Fridays are blank for now. We do not eat meat, and I did not prepare any fish meals yet, but I think I may make some salmon or crab cakes and add those in. Veggie meals are usually not too much effort that they need much advance preparation. (Or, if Eric can provide me with a recipe for a nice, spicy ceviche, that may be on the menu one Friday. I am dying for some ceviche.)

Now what's left to see is how smoothly the whole process goes with thawing and preparing. If it is the same amount of work as the old method, or if life is a bit easier. I will report in a couple of weeks.

Latin Mass could expand in Diocese of Buffalo

I spent part of the day cooking and freezing meals. This is a venture I have attempted somewhat both successfully and unsuccessfully in anticipation of the arrival of a new baby. Even though I would have a meal in the freezer, I would never plan out in time to have it thawed if necessary and have the side dishes available, hence the "OK"-ness of the method.

This week I bought the book The Freeze Cooking Manual from The 30 Day Gourmet. I did not think to buy the book before because I figured it was simply like the site in print. While the site has some good advice, it is mostly recipes, some that are not quite my style. The book however is more of a "how-to" with these incredible worksheets that help out with organized shopping, meal planning and menus. So I substituted many of my own recipes and used the method.

Today I shopped for a number of meals at 6 AM, and started preparing some. I intended for tomorrow or Friday to be my "cooking day", but with a nursling who hates everyone but me, I am not sure how feasible that is.

So as of today, I have in the freezer:

-4 nights worth of pork chops in marinade (they were buy one/get one)
-2 pans of baked rigatoni (rigatoni in bechamel sauce with mozarella or fontina cheese and proscuitto)
-2 nights worth of homeade chicken nuggets (I suppose I could save myself the effort and buy ready made/frozen nuggets, but I hate how salty ready-made food is-it gives me a stomach ache)
-3 quiche broccoli, cheese and bacon quiche fillings

I also bought some Italian bread and to accompany the meals and wrapped it up tight in foil and freezer bags.

I plan to make a couple of lasagnas, meatballs for three nights, a couple of Chicago pizzas, some chimichanga-ey things for a couple of nights, some type of chicken-alfredo stuff, and 16 pie crusts for quiches, or pies or whatever.

So what is the benefit? A planned menu. A full freezer. Better budget-ing. I spend a lot of time lately heading out to the supermarket at 2 PM trying to figure out what to make for dinner that night. I end up spending more money shopping like this and I am not sure how I got into this habit lately, but I need to get out.

Also, thank you for filling up the comments box below with some favorite recipes. I love the pretzel idea. Keep 'em coming!

TSO links to a Catholic-oriented temperament quiz. It takes around ten minutes.

I took it and was told that I am a melancholic-sanguine (65%-35%). I could buy that. I like that this quiz takes a stab at seeing which temperament is dominant in us mixed types.

I heard Art Bennett on Catholic Answers last week; I think this is the web site he'd mentioned he was involved with.

Four pictures down are shoes I made for Berylla using the pattern on this site.

Pansy's in a rut. Smock could also use some ideas as well.

Can you help? We're looking for recipes that...

-- are fairly simple to prepare
-- don't have a lot of "goo" (cream of mushroom soup, Velveeta, dried onion soup mix, etc)
-- have a chance of tempting picky children
-- and that feed at least eight people.

What are the crowd-pleasers at your house? Maybe we should have a contest or something!

UPDATE: Thanks, Danielle, for the link, and a big welcome and thanks to Danielle's readers!

Yesterday I went to retreat in Auriesville with my mother for a retreat of the deacon's wives of the diocese. It was a lovely, relaxing, day away from the rigors of housewifery. I find that it is nice to be around women. I have never been a male-bashing feminist, and have always enjoyed the company of the menfolk in my family. I never complain that I never get to see chick flicks, or that reading discussions are centered around Mario Puzo as opposed to Jane Austin or that conversation is around the Yankees or the Mets and not about the Cake Mix Doctor. Lately with a husband and four boys, I long for more female companionship on occasion.

The women were all very warm and friendly. But the retreat was littered with lots of remarks of the need for female clergy, how Teilhard de Chardin needs to be canonized, eye rolling at the term "obedience", and a lack of respect for the concept that "bringing the Gospel out to the people" would include raising our children in the faith or our duties as Catholic mothers in the home.

We attend Mass at the Shrine every Sunday throughout the summer, and one of the priests who says Mass revealed yesterday that he often wants to give Homilies promoting ordaining women, but knows people will complain. He mentioned he felt comfortable in this group to say that. I felt as if I heard something I should not have.

These revelations left me feeling very sad. Here we have this wonderful faith that should bring us together, yet many people do not find it so wonderful. I am at a loss as to why. I also wonder why the Church attracts people who have such problems with the Church to be in the positions of clergy.

The Summa Mamas are talking about the "alpha mom" and "beta mom" thing.

I know there's a lot of tongue-in-cheek going on, but I can only take about forty seconds of this "alpha mom" and "beta mom" thing before I just want to weep. Who pronounces the "alpha moms" to be "alpha moms"? And why are some self-described "beta moms" allowing the (perceived) skills of others to make them feel inadequate? And what standards are they measuring themselves against?

If I had more time maybe I'd be able to say something eloquent about this being another manifestation of our messed-up culture -- first feminism heaped scorn on the traditional domestic arts, so a lot of women didn't learn them, but then people started to miss them, so the commercial culture started selling them back to us. And how better to sell them back to us than by using advertising and magazines to foster a sense of inadequacy?

TSO has this cool post up in which he "plays the curmudgeon so [I] don't have to." He watched a bit of a recent Republican debate (a task I am more than happy to delegate) and came away with some quotes to make curmudgeonly remarks about (note that he only had to catch "a bit" of the debate to come away with enough material for a good-sized post.)

A sample of the curmudgeonly stuff:

[Governor Huckabee] said he feels the answer to our health care problems is (drumroll) - greater emphasis on wellness rather than sickness.

[which] completely ignores the root causes of the health care crisis by ignoring lack of insureds, the incredible expansion of what health care now entails, and the fact that it is a human-labor intensive industry. The wellness philosophy is great but it merely postpones the inevitable. Wellness programs don't elminate sickness and death but merely delay them. Second, it sounds suspiciously like a call for government to go into micro-managing our exercise routines or lack thereof as well as every thing we eat (fast food - no way!).

So now that TSO's got that curmudgeon stuff out of the way, all I have to do is highlight a section I particularly agree with

the incredible expansion of what health care now entails, and the fact that it is a human-labor intensive industry

and state my agreement:

I think TSO is correct in his diagnosis of the causes of the health care crisis. There's simply more health care to be had than there was in the past, and that health care still needs to be delivered by human beings, who have to be paid.

Then I add my own commentary:

And the costs of paying those human beings are proportionately higher. Once, most bedside care was given by nuns (who weren't paid much) and nursing students (who weren't paid at all.) And there was no need to pay MRI technologists and other allied-health specialists because there were no MRIs, interventional radiology suites, and so on.

But now very few nuns are giving direct nursing care (the few left in health care are in administration) Nursing students are in short supply, and will no longer work for free. Patient care is hard work -- it's physically hard work and requires 24-hour staffing. And thanks to Griswold and Roe, the labor pool is smaller. So wages have be high enough to make it worth it for qualified candidates to pass up other career paths, get the education, enter the health professions, and show up for work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

Throw in a pop-culture reference:

Even advanced societies such as the late Republic in Star Wars would pay real people -- even highly educated Jedis -- to fly spacecraft, but could only afford to have androids at the bedside to give medical and nursing care.

And I'm done! All the drudgery of watching the debate and coming up with curmudgeon stuff has been taken care of for me. (Even though I still don't understand what a "poncer" is.) Thanks, TSO!

How do you get out of dinnertime idea ruts? One of the latest problems I am faced with is whatever I cook has to be enough food. Many recipes I find that can feed a family my size are a little too "la femme cuisine" than I would like. Lots of what Dinka would call "with goo recipes" (canned soup and Velveeta). So my old cooking strageties nned to be revamped.

Oh, I forgot! My grandmother corrected me a few weeks ago-dinner is early in the day and supper is at night.

Whenever I make lemon meringue pie, it never sets. (I suppose baking on 90 degree days does not help either). The flavor is always fantastic and a homeade lemon meringue beats a store bought in flavor hands down. Still, it always turns into more a mess. We still enjoy it-we just put in bowls and use a spoon. However, I would not mind having a nice, stiff pie for once. Any suggestions?

Karen Marie died last night in her sleep.

Karen Marie's death notice in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (with guest book).

"As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to depart. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come for me now is the crown of uprightness which the Lord, the upright Judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longer for His appearing." -- 2 Tim 4:7

Last night while we were sitting on the couch watching Top Chef, and my daughter randomly pinched me on the arm. I looked at her and said "Hey, what was that for?"

"I just wanted to see what you would do..."

"Huh?"

"Well, I did this to each of my brothers and they all had very different reactions."

According to Rosey Posey, when she pinched Posco (11), his reaction was "Hey! What the heck?!?c What was that for?"

Fastolph (8) started laughing hysterically.

Gorbulas (5) started crying hysterically.

Fredegar (2) hauled off and punched her.

Rosey Posey said she thought it was a funny experiment (no doubt partly because she got to inflict pain on her siblings in the name of "experimentation") because they reacted so differently.

It made me think that when I had my first one, I really thought her personality had so much to do with the way I shaped her. I kept looking at everything she did and thought "she does this because I was like that when I was small,". Yet you can have 18 kids and raise them in the same household, with the same hobbies and values, yet have 18 distinct personalities. Some of my childen don't do a darn thing like I ever would. I get tired thinking about God instilling seperate personalities into four boys, let alone 6 billion people.