Pinewood Castle

It Came!

The back-ordered mitten tree arrived just in time for the temps to reach 32 F and make for wet mittens! (I would link to it, but Plow & Hearth says it's no longer available.)

Blessed and Broken

How many decapitated Jesuses do you have in your house?

We have one more thanks to a precious little toddler who got carried away blessings herself! She came downstairs with a wet head and this in her moist little hands -

Dino sighed, "Now we'll have to go to the Holy Book Store!"

The heartbreaking thing is that this holy water front was made by Carmelite sisters my parents knew back in Oklahoma City before I was born. I suppose it can be glued but it's never quite the same. Oh well, as long as the baby is sufficiently blessed!

4 Mile!

The 4 mile walk came in the mail from Netflix and I must say I enjoy the change of pace. The women in this class actually break a sweat and come across to me as  - hard to put my finger on it - less nervous and more natural.

I can't believe I am doing this since three weeks ago I was a read-a-loud homeschooling couch and floor potato. The kickbacks don't make my hamstrings freeze up anymore. Thanks to everyone who has ever recommended Walk Away the Pounds - sorry it took me over a year to get started!

Walk Away Fans

Which Walk Away the Pounds DVD is your favorite? I started with the three mile and can mostly do it (working up to all the arm work). But familiarity breeds contempt. I don't mind the work-out as much as knowing the next time someone will get off step, when Beth will say, "Whew!" and when the lady in the back will say, "This is powerful!"

Otherwise I am liking Walk Away quite a bit. Which one should I try next?

What Minnesotans do When It's Zero Degrees

Across from the Landmark Center in Rice Park . . .

is the site of the ice sculpting competition - one of many popular Winter Carnival events.

There is a figure in a hammock between the two palm trees here -

This one's the Last Supper!

Cheshire Cat - one of many figures from the Alice scene.

And the winner- the unicorn carousel!

Arctic/Antarctic

This January we have enjoyed a different winter themes each week such as polar bears, penguins and snowflakes with books and crafts and recipes to go along. Sorry I didn't get to blogging more about all that but here are two things I am dying to pass along in case you have more winter spirit this late in January.

One is Arctic Tale. Have you seen this DVD? This has amazing footage of walrus and polar bear families taken by a couple of cinematographers who spent years in the arctic. The tale of food chain survival imposed on the scenes make this part documentary, part entertainment along the lines of March of the Penguins.

The other big hit was tonight's dessert - meringue snowmen.

• whip up two egg whites
• add a half cup of sugar and a pinch of salt
• plop on a cookie sheet lined with parchment
• decorate with mini M&Ms or mini chocolate chips, cut up candied cherries
• bake at your oven's lowest setting for five hours

Cute? Not low glycemic, but fat-free!

Time and Money, Money and Time Ramblings

How are your husbands doing at work? Our you, for those of you who are employed?

The good news at my husband's company is that that there will be not be any lay-offs. The bad news is that no one gets a raise. No raise is better than no job these days!

In years past, raises have helped us to save more, give more and add some expenses to the budget such as music lessons or a car payment. The prospect of not getting that raise has gotten us tightening our belts more than usual.

My mother's adage comes to mind, "If your outgo is more than your income, your upkeep will be your downfall."

Better reign in my upkeep!

And time, how are you doing on time? I spent most of my time in the kitchen today, baking bread, cooking double batches of meals to put in the freezer and grocery shopping. I didn't get to anything else on my list. My husband got to doing the bills and balancing the checkbook as well as refilling the bird feeders, but not much else besides spending time with the children which of course is always valuable. But at the end of the day he remarked, "It's like we need two Saturdays - one for you and one for me!"

Two things came to mind - one was wondering how could I ever find time for a part-time job if we really needed the extra income. The second was how much I miss doing things from 9-11 pm before I started the early morning workout and going to bed early.

Of course that brings to mind the another famous piece of advice, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man (or woman?) healthy, wealthy and wise."

True?

De-Tox Report

Just back from the nutritionist!

The Numbers:

• 5 pounds lost this week
• 60 minute daily aerobic workout = new habit
• 1 G.I Diet Cookbook for my menu planning convenience
• 34 capsules per day of this and that to swallow for my personalized vitamin and supplement program

Many more weeks to go, but all worth it!

Pro-Life Quick-Takes

"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

First, I have nothing but admiration for those who participate in Marches for Life across the country. Though I am pro-life I realize I am too passive about it publicly. I am inspired to mark my calendar and get more involved next January and throughout this year.

Having said that, I don't believe that the battle will ever be a 100% victory. I believe I first heard this from Dr. Janet Smith - that as long as we have contraception we will have abortion as a back-up measure. And the hearts of many pro-lifers (don't know if there is a percentage to quote here) are not on the same page with Catholics when it comes to contraception. After receiving issues of No Greater Joy and Above Rubies I am thrilled to know that some protestants share our understanding. I am all for reducing the number of abortions in this country and the federal funding for them, but call me a cynic, I do not believe abortion will ever be made illegal. Not that we shouldn't give up the fight!

Secondly, I could not bring myself to watch the Inaugural on TV Tuesday. I should have - our high school band went to the 1984 Inaugural and I spent a summer as an intern in D.C. long, long ago so I ached a bit to have missed it and I agree with Erin about sharing the event with our children regardless of our politics. (Plus, I missed seeing Aretha's hat!) But I did speak with my children about our new president, about how big of a deal it is to have the first African-American president. My two minute history of civil rights got their attention and prompted numerous questions.

But what really made an impression was a frank talk about abortion and how this new president thinks it's ok. And here's the amazing thing, hence the opening quote from scripture, is that children KNOW IN THEIR HEARTS what is wrong, horribly wrong. Explaining to children why abortion is wrong is easy compared to explaining why some people think it is acceptable.

We mothers have the opportunity to form our children's consciences at a young age and it does not take much any persuading to steer them towards the right answer when it comes to killing babies. I find that truly amazing and beautiful. The liberal open-minded sympathetic adults out there can rationalize all they want, but if they would only get in touch with their "inner child" they would feel the horror of the very thought of murdering their own precious baby.

Of course there are amazingly difficult situations in which women find themselves. I did tell my girls about some common instances as well as a friend of ours who was recently faced with a difficult pregnancy who chose to abort. I want to start them thinking about situations such as these that call on their sympathy, but begin to introduce these scenarios slowly so that their consciences are already formed in the event that they are ever faced with such a dilemma in the future. It's all about a women's willingness to carry a cross like our Lord and Savior.

If we could all be as innocent and in touch with the natural law written upon our hearts as our children.

I may have missed seeing the inauguration and Aretha's hat, but I did not miss out on a teachable moment with my children on the most important lesson of all.

For anyone else who missed it -

Wuthering Heights

It was a little, shall we say, steamy for my taste. Adaptations like this one leave me longing for respectable Jane Austen characters. I have to say I agree with Austenprose's review on this one.