Pansy: May 2003 Archives

Pansy's husband asks (while noting our Weather Pixies):

Oh, so she gets to stand in the sun and you get to stand in the rain with an umbrella. Dontcha get tired of always just standing there in the rain and snow all the time?

Children's Books
Some of my daughter's (age 10) favourites besides the Chronicles of Narnia and Laura Ingalls Wilder books would be the Redwall series, The Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights Series, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Around the World in Eighty Days, Three Musketeers, Tom Sawyer, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Anne of the Green Gables, Tuck Everlasting, Treasure Island, Little Women, Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz, Sign of the Beaver, Boxcar Children, any of the Beverly Clearly Ramona books, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Roald Dahl , the Nancy Drew series, Black Beauty...

This is really a very fun age in terms of literature and I find myself living vicariously through her enjoying some of my favourites again.

Survey: Teens feel pressured to have sex

"Changing social norms and cultural expectations as well as delayed marriage means many young people have multiple sexual relationships in their lifetimes and need the information and tools to make healthy decisions and communicate with their partners," the report said.

About one in three teens said they had been in a relationship where they felt things were moving too fast sexually.

I think many parents do not understand that while they think they are being responsible by purchasing a box of condoms for their sons and saying "you can do what you want, just don't bring home no babies", they are not taking any responsibilty for other people's daughters. I know many would argue that they are not responsible for other people's children, but they do have a responsibilty to teach their sons not to do harm to others.

I realise I am speaking from a female's perspective here, and my intent is not to say women are innocent victims, but simply that my perspective is simply from someone who was once a teenage girl. Teenage girls very often succumb to sex simply because they do not know how to extricate themselves from a situation where a boy is pressuring them. I am sure this is more the case than the need to express one's sexuality or whatever buzz terms or philosophies are in vogue now.

Having Some Technical Difficulties...Please Stand By...

More on Boobs Hanging Out

Child number one-I nursed but because I did not want to offend anyone, I never left the house.

Child number two-I had a job at a daycare so my children could come with me. My coworkers would talk about how offended they were by the sight of nursing mothers, so I would bottlefeed at work and nurse at home. Posco weaned himself at seven months. I was devastated.

Child number three-I got with the program and decided everyone else needs to get a grip.

Natural Law has dictated to us what breasts are for, feeding babies. Study upon study upon study has shown the benefits of breastfeeding versus bottle feeding. We live in a society where we should be open about sexuality, but an accidental glimpse of nipple as a result of breastfeeding and people rant, rave and call the authorities. I am so missing something. It makes no sense to me, so I conclude people need to get a grip.

To me it draws far more attention to have a baby bending backwards and screaming than nursing in public. People who do not nurse do not understand that breastfeeding is not just about nutrition but it is about an emotional need for the child. A nursling around their mother needs to nurse on demand. Any Mom who has coslept with a newborn knows that sometimes the baby cannot sleep because the smell of the milk makes him crazy.

As much as I want to give the "I do nurse discreetly in public" speech (and I will in a second) I have to admit I could actually care less. Not that I have some passion for showing off my boobs, but if my baby is hungry or needs comfort, baby's needs come first. I will not substitute with artificial nipples or second rate nutrition just to make someone else comfortable. I am a homeschooling stay at home Mom and spend far too much time at home to begin with and refuse to give up the sporadic outings I do get to indulge in because other are offended by breastfeeding.

OK, back to the "discreet" issue. I have always nursed comfortably around my teenage brothers and the only time I got a big "Ah Gross!" reaction from them is when I had back issues of The Compleat Mother laying around. Just because I am breastfeeding does not mean I am living out my secret fantasies of being a exhibitionist. Even without blankets, with nursing clothing and mainly posture and attitude, many people do not notice, or do not seem to care. Or people are too afraid to comment.

Interesting Article, Peony!

Breasts are considered sex objects in the United States and are thus supposed to be covered up in public. Dia Michaels, a District mother of three and president of Platypus Media, which publishes books for families, teachers and parenting professionals, says: "Breasts are used to sell everything from beer to cars these days, and so Americans are terrified of seeing breast-feeding in public." She notes that some people act horrified when they see her nursing her 4-year-old and that she has heard comments ranging from "That's not allowed here" to "That's disgusting" to "Isn't she too old for that?" when she nurses her daughter in restaurants, parks, or on airplanes and the Metro.

I never understand the irony of this, how people do not mind seeing breasts for everything but what they are intended for.

Ivey, one of the founders of Mocha Moms, a support group for at-home mothers of color,

Mocha Moms?

This is off topic from what the article is about, and I am glad that there is a focus for minority women to stay at home and breastfeed-it is long overdue. But do they have to have that corny name?

Some of Pansy Moss's Favourite Movies
I prefer movies that I could just watch and not worry about watching with the kids around, but not all fit that criteria. Many do though, I (not listed in any specific order, by the way)...

Signs
Ever After
The Sixth Sense
Tombstone
Patriot
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring andThe Two Towers
Glory
Gettysburg
While You Were Sleeping
Transformers The Movie
A Knight's Tale
Black Hawk Down
The Last Unicorn
The Princess Bride

Birth Rates Decline in Europe
Isn't it odd with all the advancements in food distribution and healthcare that birth rates are dropping so dramatically instead of increasing?

Oh, in case you were wondering

My husband rented and beat Enter the Matrix this weekend. Yes it answered many of the questions that the holes in the plot of the movie left. Yes it had a neat preview of the next movie at the end. I am not sure if I should share any of the info because it might spoil it for those who have not seen it? Or would it be good for those who have no interest in playing the game? Does anyone even care???

The blog I could have written-except not because I don't that well...

but I can so relate to . William Luse over at Apologia writes about the personal frustration with liturgical abuses.

I am a week late on this, sorry.

Saturday evening was nice because last minute we were invited to a potluck dinner-prayer-thing-Catholic-fellowship-get together. I had Spinach Enchiladas slotted in for dinner, so I just brought it with me as my dish.

We met a young couple (not married) who just graduated from F U Steubanville who were very cool. Although they were I guess about 7 years our younger, we seemed to mesh generationally. I also attribute that to the fact that the young lady of the pair was a homeschooled as a child, and the young man wants to go into psychology-specifically family therapy, so I think it there were some similar interests. We even had a long discussion about breastfeeding. So Polo and I did not feel incredibly alone afterwards as the only Catholic Young Adults in the Albany area.

Sunday we went to Church where a lady had a big box of "Free Rhubarb" from her garden. We came home, where I fully intended to make a rhubarb crisp for dessert after a leisurely Sunday afternoon of sewing. All of a sudden the room started spinning and I was horribly nauseous. I couldn't even sleep it off. I thought a lot about Ashli of the SICLE Cell because it was similar to what she described except I knew it would be short lived, not last for months.

I was very thankful that if I had to be sick, it was on a day my husband had off. The two youngest boys had it also and the baby still seems to have diarrhea poor guy.

This morning I am feeling much better but tired. I ate today and am hoping we do OK because my dh has left for work at ten after six this morning and will not be home until eight tonight. I am grateful that homeschooling is almost finished except perhaps a subject each.

I thank everyone who thought of me and said a prayer, may the Lord reward your kindness.

prayers puh-leeze, please, please, please, please, puh-leeeeeeze!!!

Please say a prayer for me because I am very pathetic. Three out of six Upstate NY Mosses (including yours truly) seem to be afflicted with some type of stomach virus that is wreaking havoc in my system from the waist up in ways I hadn't thought possible. I want my Mommy...

Judge Orders Abortion for Disabled Woman

This is bad. Why not let it go for the three months left and adopt the baby out?
Think about it, the judge has ordered the death of an innocent child...

I Guess the 80's are "In"

Disney is remaking Freaky Friday this time starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsey Lohan. I loved the book as a child, but it got so tired in the eighties with the whole switcharoo plot after Visa Versa(1988), Like Father, Like Son(1988), Big (1988), and of course the original 1976 version of Freaky Friday starring Jodie Foster.

In other movie news, Disney is an animated movie called Brother Bear featuring the music of Phil Collins. The movie does look cute.

I promise I will come up with some less sarcastic blogs in the future. I cannot help myself.

Pansy's Friday Five

1. What brand of toothpaste do you use? Tom's of Maine Propolis and Myrrh

2. What brand of toilet paper do you prefer? Whatever is cheapest at Sam's Club.

3. What brand(s) of shoes do you wear? Birkenstock's Sydney's or Gizeh or any type of cute sandals from most likely Payless.

4. What brand of soda do you drink? Caffeine-Free Diet Coke

5. What brand of gum do you chew? Gum hurts my jaw. I like chocolate.

Some Searches

eggplant + birth
huh?
peony+spirituality+and+the+saints
ok, about right
coloring+pictures+of+Jesus+carrying+his+cross
looking for some of those myself
sexy+mommies
yeah Baby, you came to the right place!
Faint?+sleepy+adult
yep, that's us again
cheap+communion+dresses
???
Lizzie+Maguire+lyrics
LIZZIE+MAGUIRE+SONG+LYRICS
LIZZIE+MAGUIRE+SONG+LYRICS
click the link for crying out loud
Lizzie+Maguire+Christian+Movie+Review
That we have

Fare Thee Well Buffy

Well, they ended the show by turning every potential slayer in the world into a full blown slayer. They had nifty images of little league girls stepping up to plate and feeling themselves imbued with slayer power. Curiously, they didn't have images of Big Bad Bertha at the women's penitentiary becoming all powerful and kicking her CA's butt or anything. Anywho, for what it's worth, I am glad that they didn't kill Buffy off again, or have her walk away from her responsibility.

The Angel scene was short lived. Watching their little conversation about why she cannot be involved in a relationship because she is cookie dough, and she is not done cooking. But when she is done cooking then maybe she will be ready to have someone eat, er enjoy cookies. I enjoyed the conversation because I realised just how much they developed Angel since he had his own show. My favourite season of Buffy is Season Two, the one where Angel loses his soul. Even then he wasn't as strong a character as he has become, and they didn't undermine any of that for the Buffy finale. I guess that is why he could only be on for like 2 minutes.

I want to know what happened to all the people in Sunnydale? Did they all die?

Now off to read Victor's review. Any thoughts Peony? That has become a highlight if my Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

Oh I did forget to mention (and Victor did not) was the highlight of the evening when the Mutant Enemy "Grr! Arh!" Guy turned and looked at us. My husband and I got a big kick out of that, well because we have gotten a big kick out of that guy for 7 years now. OK, OK, so we are easy to entertain.

OK, so I have been reading about The Raving Atheist sending fellow atheists to drop bombs of love or something at Catholic Light and at Catholic and Enjoying It. While the story is amusing, it makes about as much sense to me as The Matrix plot did. I mean I never understand why people of other beliefs care so much about what we believe. I could care less. I do not mean that to be smug, but what atheists believe takes up very little time of my daily thought process. Much better things to worry about like, what to cook, saying the Rosary, teaching the kids and blogging about Mommy Stuff, BTVS, The Matrix, rhubarb, breastfeeding and the Catholicity of it all.

So I will end this blog with a nifty quote from Matrix Reloaded (bear with me because I am doing this from memory, not from a script):

Commander Lock: Not everyone has the same beliefs you do

Morpheus: My beliefs do not require them to.

Yeah, yeah, I know-short, pointless and nothing but an excuse to post that nifty quote. But the whole "Love Bombing" thing did remind me of that quote, so it wasn't just a random tie in.

Happy Belated Anniversary, Dinka!

Apparently Matrix Fans

The reason why the movie made no freakin' sense is because the big holes in the plot are filled in by the video game.

The brothers' production scheme was as audacious as their narrative vision: two films shot as one, and more than two years in the making of the real (sound stage) and virtual (computer-generated) elements. They also planned a DVD package called Animatrix —nine short computer films by top Japanese and American anime directors, elaborating on the trilogy's themes and subplots (it hits stores next month)—and a nifty video game, Enter The Matrix.

For what it's worth the game looks really cool, but what a rip off.

Update: Check out Animatrix.

Peony, I disagree with you on this one.

First time for everything? Although I can see where you are coming from in regard to personal freedom and all.

Our county council is trying really hard to get one passed. I do not like the idea, even though I personally prefer to dine at smoke-free restaurants. If an owner of a bar wants to permit smoking, he should be able to do so.

I suppose I can understand smoking in bars, well not really, but that is my opinion. I can say as the mother of three asthmatics, it has been a breath of fresh air (no pun intended) to be able to go to a family friendly restaurant and not worry about it bringing on an asthma attack. I am totally willing to admit that I am projecting my own situation into this, and turning into my therapy. I mean I guess I should figure that taking asthmatic children to restaurants is not prudent. All I know is that this legislation has made my life slightly easier. I just do not think children should have second hand smoke imposed on them.

Indecent Exposure

Gorbulas has taken to taking his diaper off and walking around the house dressed like Porky Pig, you know just a shirt and no pants. It is actually quite cute because Baby Booties are so pinchable!

I'm hooked!
On rhubarb, and it's all your faults! I cannot resist that tart flavour. Thank you very much Peony and fellow St. Bloggers.

I saw some fresh rhubarb at my health food co-op, and the strawberries have been lucious so I just made a batch of strawberry rhubarb jam.

I also made it with honey instead of sugar. It tasted good on the spoon so we'll see how it turns out because I didn't have an exact recipe for it.

Update: Success! My jam gelled. Now I just hope it tastes good. The hot jam I licked off the spoon tasted like rhubarb pie.

So what did I do? I took four cups of strawberries and four cups of rhubarb thinly sliced and mashed them up with a potato masher.I put that in a large pot to boil with 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and 4 teaspoons of calcium water. Calcium water is an ingredient that comes with the pectin I use. When it started to boil I added two cups of honey and 4 teaspoons of Pomona's Universal Pectin. I let it boil until it reached 220 degrees according to my candy thermometer. This is the part that takes patience because it takes forever to reach that degree. I think the reason why I lack a good gel in my jams is because I get tired of waiting for them to jump from like 215 degrees to 220. When it finally reached that temp, I spooned them into 8 oz jelly jars and processed them for like 7 minutes.

It only yeilded like 5 jars though. I actually do not mind small batches because my canner only fits seven jars, but it is a bummer because after all that chopping and boiling, that is all you get. The bright side-now I have rhubarby goodness for a few months!

Funny
We have had like five hits from people doing various searches on "Lizzie Maguire."

My mother volunteered to take the kids last night
So Hubby and I reciprocated by packing up two of her teenage sons and Gorbulas and headed off to the drive-in.

The two movies that were playing were Malibu's Most Wanted and Matrix Reloaded.

I actually did not hate Malibu's Most Wanted as much as I thought I would. No, for real. There were parts that really had me laughing out loud. I got a big kick of super-sexy Taye Diggs of How Stella Got Her Groove Back fame acting very silly and not so Leading-Manesque.

My brothers said they know kids that act like the main character-the rich Malibu kid who insists he is a Gangsta. Things have changed so much from when I was in high school (c. 1986-90). Now I do not know if this is a reflection of the times or of Lawrence High School, but no white kids wanted to be a Gangsta Rapper. I hung with a crowd that listened to mostly hip-hop, and at first you could not even buy hip hop in a store, unless it was some DJ store smack in the middle of an urban area, or if you had a friend who was a DJ and could cut a tape for you. That changed around 1986, but only a few titles were available. They never showed any hip hop on Mtv until around 1989 and they started a weekly one hour program hosted by Fab Five Freddy called Yo MTV Raps. I remember getting all excited and taping it. And you never, ever saw any white kids being Wannabe Gangstas. The racial divide both physically and culturally was never ever crossed. I wonder if it is still the same there? I will never know because there is not enough money to pay me to set foot in that High School and see.

As for The Matrix, I have no idea what was going on. There was too much talking that made no sense. The fighting scenes, which are always good, have become sort of redundant after four years. But it would have been better if you knew why he was fighting if he could fly away? There was too much gratuitous sex to make it comfortable to watch with my mother's teenage sons. Trinity, Morpheus and Neo are looking sort of long in the tooth and it was almost painful to look at them.

I could excuse all that for some more costumes, but there were not as many as the last movie, just Neo looking very pasty and skinny and a long black robe thing. And the movie was so dark, but they were always wearing sunglasses. It amazed me they didn't walk into walls.

There was a fun moment with a cameo appearance of Laurence Fishburn's lovely real life wife, Gina Torres who you may know as Jasmine from Angel.

It actually did have some entertaining value, but the fact that I really had no idea what was going on in the storyline made the other little things that mentioned before more annoying. Just like the decentfilms.com review, I am hoping movie three ties it all together so I can know what the heck is going on.

Oh Sigh
Matrix Reloaded is playing at the drive-in tomorrow night and there is no we are going to see it. The problem is, Hubby is hoping we can go and cover the kids eyes in certain scenes, or wake the up real early tomorrow morning in the hopes they will fall asleep at dusk in the car-or something. Poor Sweetie really wants to see this movie. I do not blame him. He even brought home an article from USA Today basically saying "it is not too bad." We are not going though, not unless he can find a babysitter. What Screenit and what Decent Films have to say sort of contradicts USA Today. Oh well.

Guilty (Very Guilty) Pleasures
Warning:A very estrogen laden blog.

Now you know I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I like to eat, scrapbook, do aerobics, and dabble in sewing. I didn't tell you I am a closet Cloth Diapering Addict. Yes, there are strange women like me who do not just simply use cloth diapers out of necessity, but are sort of actually into them. In my defense, if I were alone, there would not be a World Wide Cloth Diapering Resource. I have Chinese Prefolds, Hempers prefolds, Aristocrats Wool Soakers, Fuzzi Bunz, you name it. While I like prefolds, pins,and nylon pull-up pants for economy, the fun part is with the WAHM (work at home Mom) made diapers.

To know what I am talking about, one just needs to browse The WAHMall Auctions and see some of the really neat dipes some of the mother's have made. If you are expecting, it is very easy to get lost in the auctions. Another auction spot is Mother's Nature. Sometimes you can pick up some prefolds at a good price.

One of the neatest makers of cloth diapers has to be Full Moon Baby Gear . Terri (the owner) really makes some of the coolest diapers and baby accessories I have seen, including batik diapers, an Our Lady of Guadalupe baby blanket and Dio de los Muertes all in one hemp diapers.

I wonder if it is a sign of taking attachment parenting to an extreme when one finds "fun" in diapering?

This fabric is so cute.
I wish I quilted or something, I would make a blanket out of it.

My kids have taken to waking up very early in the morning, and watching French cooking shows before school. I wake up to:
Rosey-Posey:"Wow, look at all the butter they use. Hey, they are putting wine in that Coq Au Vin, can kids eat that?"
Posco:"I don't think so, wine is not for kids. I want to eat the chicken stuffed with spinach, but man all that butter! I can't believe it."
Rosey-Posey:"Oh look what they are doing with those apples! And caramel and nuts."
Posco:"Mmmm, nuts! Ooh and clams, I love clams!"
Enter Mom
Rosey-Posey:"Oh Mommy, Good Morning! You should go to Epicurious.com and get a recipe from there! It looks so good even though they use soooo much butter!"
Posco:"Yeah, butter-like a whole thing!"

Ack, I hope my last blog on motherhood was not insensitive sounding
You are correct, not all women are called to motherhood. I totally agree with everything you said. Just to clarify, my thoughts were more for the author of the article then for Katheryn. There is a big difference between Katheryn's prayerful discernment of a vocation, and the married author's decision to not be a "breeder" despite the fact that she has names picked out for her would be children.

This whole discussion also reminds me of a study my father told me about years ago. The study was about people's reactions to babies. I think the scenario was someone standing in a public place with a baby. The findings were that women who did not have children had little or no interest in the baby, but women who had given birth could not walk past a baby with poking the child or saying "aww." Men almost always stopped, cooed and smiled at the babies regardless of being a father or not. There are so many factors that affect these choices, most especially prayer, graces and even hormones.

Peony, I too just read Katheryn's post today...
I was going to blog on it, but wanted to get my thoughts together.

I think I commented in the box that one thing our contraceptive/secular culture does not understand is that children belong to God and they are sacramentals. While we may not think we are prepared to be parents, God sends us what we need to raise His children. It's almost like before we become parents, we are not ready to be parents until we officially become a parent. So in a way, it's like the question "am I ready to be a mother?" is almost redundant.

Another thing the author of the article does not realise is parenting is not just about "me." Children are not just a blessing to the couple, but to society. This is one of the reasons why parents have a responsibility to put so much energy into child rearing, and not just what you can to get by. We have a responsibility to try the best we can to raise productive adults.

Lastly, a marriage that is not truly open to life is doomed to failure. I really believe that. If you do not cooperate with God in something that is as difficult as living with a man (just kidding-or better yet, living with woman), it will not work. You have to cooperate with God in His Creation.

I actually have a very hard time relating to the author of the article. Peony mentions:

The author (who is only 27)

I have been Mom for ten years now (since 20) and I have always wanted to be a Mommy since I can remember. I know I make the mistake in thinking most women think like I do. While I am willing to acknowledge that may not be true, I can say I do not understand women who do not want to be mothers. In all fairness, I cannot understand women who have dreams to be boxers or any other vocations I have not been called to. Anyway, I was a bit hesitant to reply to the article because I did not want to come off too opinionated.

hee hee
Angel's entrance in Buffy was so timely. It was good to see them together. I am all giddy. I really liked tonight's episode.
Now waiting to read Victor's review.

Update:Victor said:

So it's probably somewhere between the part where 'Xander knocks Dawn out with chloroform (yay!)... that I begin to realize just how much the show has begun to suck (has been sucking, whatever)

Yeah, the show has gone downhill after Season Three (except that Hush episode in Season Four).I think the addition of the pointless and whiney Dawn character was one major step towards suckiness. Some others were killing off Buffy so that she was reduced to nothing but Angst Depressed Buffy who was sad she left Heaven. I mean how many episodes in the past three seasons were just about how depressed Buffy was? Certainly that musical episode was a nail in the coffin. Getting rid of Angel and the introduction of Riley Finn (thank goodness that was short lived). All the Willow stuff with her relationships. Actually they added too much sex in the show after Angel left, and Catholic morals aside, I always think sex is just a cheap gimmick. They also failed to develop and use Giles anymore who was a good, strong character, and developed Spike who was much better as a charicature.

They did the same thing to Buffy that they did to X-Files and X-Men, tried to make it too deep and cerebral with character struggles et al instead of just giving us a fun story with a lot of butt kicking.

But then Angel shows up in the last two minutes of the episode and does his always endearing, always humorous "smug L.A. vampire" bit and all is good in the world.

That put the episode on my High-Rating-O-Meter. I actually do not remember much of what happened before that.

A Man-Type Question
For my son's First Holy Communion, I am going to make him a navy blue jacket. Does he need matching navy pants or can he wear khaki pants? I think the khaki pants would look smarter, but my husband said matching pants are the tradition and more dressy. I am out of element here...

Angel News
I read in USA Today (cannot find link right now) that they are picking Angel up for another season. Yippee.

This-or-that Tuesday

1. Packrat or minimalist? Usually one extreme or the other. I tend to lean towards packrat, but over compensate by being a minimalist.

2. Computer:desktop or laptop? Laptop.

3. Seashore or mountains? Seashore.

4. Carpeting or bare floors? Bare floors.

5. Drinking water: bottled or tap? Bottled.

6. Shopping websites: eBay or Amazon? eBay.

7. Cute little kitties or big scary tigers? Kitty cats.

8. Front door or back door? Front. There are always weird bugs around back doors.

9. Lots of jewelry, or little/none?I don't know. Everday I wear one pair of dangly (about an inch) earrings, a thirty inch silver chain with a Miraculous Medal, my wedding and engagement ring and a toe ring. If I am going "out" I will probably add more rings.

10. Thought-provoking question of the week: At the last minute, you obtain tickets to an event you're dying to attend. However, you have to work that day! Do you ask the boss for the time off, or just call in sick? Depends on the boss, job and how far in advance. I have had one boss that would understand, but many who I would have just called in sick for.

Generation Gaps
I am getting old. My teenage brothers are sporting afros and all I can think when I look at them is "the word is clippers, Bro." Crazy circa 60/70ish hair is back in style for boys. My parents can relate better than I can to their hair styles. This is like scary and surrealistic. I feel so old and lost.

May Crowning Pictures!
Yes, I love showing my family off.

Posco crowning Mary.

Gorbulas climbing one of the Fatima children's sheep. It was very funny because he kept falling off because it was too high for him.

I had some other pictures, but they all had other people's kids in them, and I didn't want to publish them...

OK, The Lizzie Maguire Movie.
My daughter loves to watch Zoog Disney and one of the shows she likes is Lizzie Maguire. I have never been thrilled with it, but never really thought it objectionable, just silly.

In the movie, Hilary Duff plays Lizzie Maguire, a recent junior high school graduate who is basically a klutz. They make her clumsy in order to make the character more down to earth. They cannot make her ugly, poor, they certainly cannot make her out of style, and even though they talk about "popularity" she really is not inflicted by being a "nerd" or "geek", so they make her clumsy. OK, whatever. The movie takes place right after her Junior High School graduation in which her class takes a two week trip to Rome.

The beginning of the movie is spotted with classist jokes. The popular girl insults Lizzie because she is an "outfit repeater" (which we never see in the show, by the way), another remark is made about "trailer park trash" and another about "ending up spending your life folding shirts in the Mall." Granted, these remarks were made by less sympathetic characters, but I get tired of seeing this kind of vitriol slung in our children's faces in the name of humour. While no one would dream of making racist jokes, even by the overbearing school principle (which is a good thing), jokes about having less materially are always welcome.

Fast forward the class is in Rome touring around and Lizzie bumps into Italian pop-star, Paolo who basically picks her up by saying "excuse me, haven't we met somewhere before?" Lizzie bears a striking resemblance to his ex(huh, he is 17) and ex singing partner Isabella. Now here is where I object. The character just graduated Middle School. That would make her last grade eighth making her her like what-13? She spends the next few days lying about being sick, having her best friend and later other classmates cover for her, missing out of the opportunity to have Rome toured, and spending time with her "best friend" to go flitting about a strange country with a guy she just met.

There is a big climax where the principal finds out she was being sneaky, and her best friend covers for her by saying he was sneaking out. In the end it turns out Paolo was scheming her to perform onstage at some major international music award show. Wow, what a tricky guy. Here's the part I do not understand. Lizzie performs onstage, her principal and friends who were covering for her forget all her transgressions because she is "cool." Her parents do tell her they are very proud of her (for what?), but she is grounded for the rest of the summer. The moral is, if you have a dream go after it. That is what the words to the title track Why Not performed by Hilary Duff tell us. Even though she hurts her friends, lies etc. she gets to perform onstage in cool clothes with dancers, so it all evens out in the end.

Now, why this long boring post about a silly movie? There has been outspoken objection from the Christian parenting forefront about movies like Harry Potter because of the occult suggestions. While I am sure that has it's place, I think movies like this that turn morals upside down do more harm. I honestly cannot see many children, especially with strong Christian backgrounds turning to witchcraft after seeing Harry Potter. I do see this idea of "if you have a dream, go after at all costs no matter how immoral, and make sure you look cool while you are doing it" more insidious. I had the same problem with The Little Mermaid, rewarding immoral behaviour. The whole "it's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game" theme seems to be lost these days.

My daughter and I had a little chat about what I found objectionable and she agreed.

Afterwards we saw Holes which redeemed the evening. Decentfilms.com gives it a much better review than I could.

Study links family size to risk of obesity

Off to a May Crowning
We are leaving in a few minutes to the National Shrine of North American Martyrs for a picnic, Mass and May Crowning. We made a crown out of silk flowers. Posco gets to be one of the lucky children to crown Mary because he is a First Communicant. If I take some decent pics, maybe I will post them.

Last night we saw Holes (which I liked a lot) and The Lizzie Maguire Movie (which I did not like). I will blog more on this when I come home later.

Fetus a Body Part?
Not sure what to think...

I feel ripped off
by the Angel season finally. I have to think of more to blog on the subject. For now, I am feeling sort of short changed.
Update:Victor liked the episode much better than I did and he offers a much insightful and intelligent review than I could. I also think I know why I did not like the ending, but that is my own personal baggage. You know how that can be.
Updated update:My mom agrees with Victor.
Mom: I think they are going to kill off Buffy.
Pansy:I would rather see them kill her off then change her character having her leave is not consistent with Buffy, kwim?
Mom: Angel was so conciliatory last night. I enjoyed it,but Joss Whedon does not usually play to the audience.
Pansy: did you like Angel? I didn't
Victor Lams (fellow blogger) liked it a lot too, he said it was very pro-life
Mom: I liked what he did with Connor, whom I detest.
Pansy: I liked what he did too which was another plus for Angel. Connor annoys me too much to expend that much emotion on-I guess that is what annoyed me
Mom: I can see that the show was set up to either end or go on.
Pansy:and he still looked dirty after he had his new stable family
Pansy: yes, I saw that
Mom: But Joss Whedon usually doesn't care about the audience as much as his story line, and he was definitely pitching to us.
Pansy: yes
Mom: So that is why i think they are going to kill off Buffy. The whole thing reads like the windup for the final tumble in a gymnastics meet.

Buffy Stuff
First let me get some very important stuff out of the way. Anya needs to stop dying her hair blonde. She is much more attractive as a brunette and the blonde hair makes her look seriously crunchified.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is so darn skinny. I will feel moderately in shape and then watch an episode of Buffy and get really annoyed. I heard an interview with her and she claims she eats. I guess I could use the ole' "well I had four babies" excuse. Grrr.

OK, now I thought the episode was a waste until the last fifteen minutes. My husband made a good call when he said the kids cannot see this week's episode. It had a bit more gratuitous sex than I thought was allowed in network TV. And Willow and her girlfriend-gross!

The last part was good because Buffy did kick Caleb's butt a bit. That was cool. They did use those redundant Matrix slow motion special effects. Is anyone else getting tired of seeing people bend backwards in slow motion to avoid punches and/or bullets? Was it me or was he wearing leather pants? I couldn't make it out. I wonder where creepy WannaBe evil priest people shop to get leather pants. Something about that reminded me of Nightcrawler with his priest collar incorporated into his costume.

Next week it looks like it will be better because Angel is coming back. I hope it is really him and not some manifestation of The First.

Check-up
I have been just as Sleepy as Peony lately. My diet last week was atrocious due to my street running. Maybe that is it.

I have been learning to sew and am enjoying it immensely. I have made a bunch of dresses for my daughter that are adorable. She even has the same sandals as this girl (I made the long version). This is purely coincidental. The other dress I made is the dress in pattern number 5711. I just love icking out fabric and customising it with pretty buttons. This is really a lot of fun.

Yesterday, the children all had check-ups. Everyone checked out with a good bill of health. The two youngest had a touch of asthma, but that is nothing new. Gorbulas also had his first shots (HiB and Prevnar). I am undecided with the vaccine issue, but we decided for those vaxes because of his asthma and as far as the inserts, they contain no human diploid cells in the list of ingredients.

The part of the appointment that made me a bit squeamish is the doctor decided to have a "changes your body is going through" talk with my daughter. I have only recently read Talk One in Mother's Little Helper, so the timing threw me off balance.

I wondered if our Catholicism came through when the doctor asked my daughter about a "uterus" and she stated she did not know what that was. I said "a womb" and then she nodded "oh, yes, I know". Considering the fact I was unprepared and the lack of theology, it went well. I wonder why the doctor decided to have this talk though. I cannot remember going through that in any check-ups as a little girl, that was left to the families.

I finally got around to reading the last "Friday Five" Quiz"
and Mr. Luse, I cannot answer number three, not only because I am a lady, but I cannot think of any songs that fit the criteria.

X-Men
It was awesome! We went to see it Friday morning. It was a toss up between X-Men in the movie theater or The Lizzie Maguire Movie and Holes at the drive-in. It was raining and Decent Films gave X-Men a better rating, so X-Men won out. Also, to be frank, the idea of sitting through Lizzie Maguire and Holes did not appeal to the adults of the family.

I started reading The Uncanny X-Men back in 1980 when I was 8 years old. I did not like any of the cartoons, and was apprehensive about the movie because they destroy the characters I have grown to imagine. While they did not stick to the story line totally (like Rogue being a teenager and other small things) they stuck to the good stuff. I am not sure what to say that will not ruin it, so I will just say it was a fun movie. If you like fun movies, go see it. Warning, it was a bit more violent than I like though.

I was also impressed that they kept Nightcrawler Catholic, even if he was a bit scrupulous.

From the Comment Box
Mr. Luse comments below:

I was noticing the picture in the upper left corner (as you might expect). Amy Welborn links to a Sandra Miesel article on such depictions in earlier centuries. Nowadays she is depicted with elephant dung smeared on her. Thought you might be interested if you haven't seen it. You'll have to scroll down a few posts.

Here is the article Mr. Luse recommends which comes to us via In Between Naps. The blog is dated 5/1/03 and has some really neat comments.

Sorry for the slow blogging
My hubby has been on vacation this week. That combined with warm weather, we have been out running the streets. It is raining today so we will just go and see X-Men.

We went to the City yesterday to visit his father and then my grandmother afterwards. Today I have agita.

Since his father basically blew off the kid's birthdays, he brought us to the Toy's R Us in Times Square and bought them a toy each. What a monument of Child Inspired Materialism this place was. Complete with indoor ferris wheel. I kind of felt the need to puke.

It has been nearly ten years since I have wandered around the streets of NY. As a teen I spent a great deal of time in the Village, going to reggae parties. After being upstate, it was a bit of a culture shock-how crowded it is, how angry everyone looks, how incredibly in fashion even the elderly are. (Rule of thumb, when your wardrobe is not cutting edge, wear black. You blend in.) Also, there were no children around at all. I realise it was mid day on a weekday, but we were in Toy's R Us, and there was only a couple of toddlers. We went to McDonald's and someone verbally grumbled that we were taking up all the tables (2) and they had sit at the bar and be "all uncomfortable." Thank goodness my husband did not hear her. He was cleaning up ketchup and blocked her loudness out as being typical loud. It would have been ugly.

I was going to blog a bit about how stressed out the family visits made me because they have no concept of who we are, but I that is all that needs to be said. I doubt there is a St. Blog's parishioner who cannot relate.

Peony, about BTVS
My brother read our blog and called me because he was able to pay much better attention. Frankly he is left with the same questions.
1. Yeah, the whole going after Caleb idea was a bad one. We got that. But after all the whole Scooby Gang has been through in the past seven years, the response should have been more of a "Bad idea Buffy." Not all that lecturing.
2. Why did she have to leave her house? I mean she may have had a bad idea, but it is still her house.
I kind of think it was just bad writing because she is leaving the show. While Sarah Michelle Gellar is tired, the character is the Chosen One, so she really would not just stop being the slayer. So anything short of killing her off would be an inconsistent exit.