Archives: June 2009

Weekly Wrap-Up: Mark found me a new meme.

Mark stumbled across a blog that he just had to love, starting with the name: Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Gotta love it! He also noticed that homeschooling momma blogger Kris is hosting a meme he thought would be perfect for me, called Weekly Wrap-Up. The idea with Weekly Wrap-Up is to give a wrap-up of your week (no kidding), hopefully highlighting some "idea, resource or activity that was a big hit at your house this week." Between FlyLady (I've been doing a great job of...

Husbands are not like 2 year olds

On a message board I visit some women were complaining that cleaning up after their husbands is like cleaning up after a 2 year old. The woman who made that particular analogy doesn't have any kids, and since I do happen to have both a husband and a 2 year old I thought I'd set the record straight. A husband comes home from work, takes off his socks, shoes, and shirt and leaves them in the middle of the floor. A 2 year old dumps all of the clean, folded clothes on the bathroom floor and...

I was lazy, not selfless

I have a bit of a theological problem with the modern insistence on "me time / mommy time," that you have to spend time taking care of yourself in order to be able to take care of others. The Bible says that we should put God first (Matthew 6:33 and 22:37), then others (Philippians 2:3), and self last (Luke 9:23 and 14:26). If you put Matthew 6:33 in context, reading all the way from Matthew 6:30-6:34, you see God's assurance that if we follow His order and don't worry about ourselves, He...

No, Aisling, I'm MOMMA!

For the last couple of weeks Aisling's favorite game has been pretending that she is Momma and I am Aisling. She's so adorable mimicking me, telling me not to play with "her" timer, and praising me for "helping" her with the laundry. She plays this game nearly non-stop; she is always Momma and I am always Aisling. With rare exceptions of course, when she is Daddy or I am Anna. The best part is that she's such a good mommy! I can be pretty hard on myself, sometimes with good cause, but she...

Now Wii Are Really Having Fun

Mark finally talked me into getting a Wii. It's sort of a compromise. You see, Mark and I have very different views on the proper role of media in our kids' lives. Mark feels that... ...learning how to use a computer is an important life skill. ...it's important for kids to get to do "fun" things, including watching TV and playing video games. ...media entertainment is not inherently bad, only games or shows with harmful content are bad. ...playing co-operative games is a fun and...

Finally FLYing With FlyLady

Friday was supposed to be my ninth day of FLYing with FlyLady, but obviously I got a little sidetracked what with taking Aoghdan to have a silver dollar removed from his throat. Still, I have been taking my baby steps, and I am loving it! I read all of the warnings against expecting too much too soon, but even though I have not been rushing things, I can see the progress. My sink was shined for a solid week, I was dressed to the shoes apron, I was putting out my Hot Spots, and I was ready...

$2,000 For A Silver Dollar Necklace

When last I left you, I was blogging from Texas Children's Hospital while my son lie waiting for his morning appointment with the surgeon who would remove the coin from his throat. Because of our many small children at home, including a still-nursing Diarmuid who was really missing his mommy, I headed home to spend the night with the kiddos. When I got back my sister-in-law, Tina, was watching the kids, and she agreed to stay and drive me back to the hospital in the morning (my brother drove...

Blogging From Texas Children's Hospital

Today's blog post comes directly from the Emergency Room at Texas Children's Hospital where my oldest son, Aoghdan, is waiting to be admitted thanks to a coin (possibly a Liberty Dollar) that is currently lodged in his throat. Don't worry too much -- he can breathe and swallow and speak. But still. Even though I have warned Aoghdan so many times about putting things in his mouth, telling him over and over, "What if someone slapped you on the back and you choked?" I didn't actually think...

Automatic Preview of Bible References

This morning during breakfast Bible time the subject of the twelve tribes of Israel came up. Since I knew there was more to the subject than I could explain off the top of my head, I went to look it up online. I found my answers, and something even more interesting: a nifty blog tool called RefTagger. I've mentioned before how I wrote myself a little tag to automatically link Bible references to Bible Gateway. All I have to do is wrap any reference with [bible] and [/bible], and my blog...