What is WRONG with people?!

I just heard that our school district is sending home notices with each child to inform parents that the President is planning to address students nationwide via television and webcast next Tuesday for 15-20 minutes around noon to welcome them back to school and encourage them to set goals, work hard, and pursue higher education. The notice then has a box for parents to check if they object to students hearing the speech, so they can be given an "alternate assignment". What is an appropriate alternative to listening to our Chief Citizen explain the benefits of education to which all denizens of the U.S. are entitled? Why would any parent object to education and hard work being lauded from the highest office in the land?

This is the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time. What do these parents hope to accomplish? Barack Obama is the President of the United States. It's not like their child is going to be able to be sheltered from this knowledge. Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush made similar addresses to students, and no one considered that parents needed to be warned or students given an "out". The speech is being made available online on Monday so that parents can preview the content.

What really bothers me is the lesson that this demonstrates to all students. This act shows that it's okay to stop listening to someone just because you disagree with them. You don't have to show respect to someone if you don't like them. It is not important to understand the viewpoint of those who believe differently than you. If we teach this generation to abandon the difficult conversations and disrespect the opposition, how can we expect democracy to continue?

I am concerned that so many parents overreacted to this. I am ashamed of our district leaders for lending credence to such an obviously ridiculous objection by sending home this permission slip.

It Was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

That's what it was. Yesterday I went shopping for Easter dresses, and hardly anything fit. Especially nothing on sale at Anne Taylor Loft! It was a terrible, HORRIBLE, no good, very bad day. I wish I could go to Australia.

And then when I went to feed Sophia, I found that I had the bottle, all put-together and filled with 7 oz. of water--but no formula! Sophia was starting to get fussy. And I still had no dress. It was a TERRIBLE, horrible no good very bad day.

I could tell, because when I remembered that there was a dress, not terribly Easter-y, but cute none-the-less, at New York and Co., and I went to buy it, I found that I did not have my coupon. The lady at the register said that I could just show her the e-coupon from my email on my phone. But then, the dress was not expensive enough to qualify.

"If you wanted to find some jewelry or something to make up the difference, it would basically be free!" the checkout girl advised. So I left the dress at the register and ran to grab the cardigan that would make it "church appropriate".

After waiting in line again, I was ready to make my discounted purchase! I pulled out my phone to show the saleslady my coupon, only to find that it had died.

Not only that, but, since I was holding my hungry, whimpering child while fussing with my phone, she managed to kick over the almost-full container of cranberry juice in the stroller's cupholder. The jug of bright red juice thunked onto the floor and immediately leaked it's entire contents right onto the white tile at my feet!

I hurriedly put my dress and cardigan on hold and scurried out of the store in shame. It was a terrible, horrible, NO GOOD, very bad day. I think I'll move to Australia.

That's what it was, because when we got home, Sophia had the worst blow-out diaper I've ever seen. I had to wash her clothes, my clothes, and the couch!

And then, when I was making pizza dough, I very carefully followed the instructions. It said to mix the dough in the food processor. It said to pulse the yeast and water first and then "dump" in the flour and salt. I did these things. I pulsed. I dumped. And then, before I could mix my dough into a "slightly sticky ball", the yeast-y water began to leak out the bottom of the food processor bowl until it was all gone and I just had a pile of slightly sticky flour. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, VERY BAD day! I was ready to pack up for Australia!

But then, I redid my pizza dough, Aaron picked up my dress, and Sophia was happy in just her diaper until bedtime. We watched "The Office" and "30 Rock" and enjoyed home-made pepperoni-italian sausage-red pepper-mushroom-onion pizza and brownies.

I guess terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days happen sometimes. Even in Australia...

Renew. Revive. Regurgitate?

Here you go, blogosphere! My all-new, fancy-schmancy blog. It's green. It's paisley. IT HAS NEW POSTS!!

I found that my blog was stagnating. It was having an identity crisis. I didn't want it to just be a "family news" blog, because Aaron maintains a website for family pics and such. I wanted it to be a repository for deep thoughts, but I evidently don't have very many of those, or at least not when I'm near my computer (yeah, that's it; let's go with that--I'm never near a computer when I have my many, many deep and inspirational thoughts!).

So I've decided that this will be my place to show off, er...chronicle my battles/achievements with my newfound profession of being "busy at home."

I am a new stay-at-home mommy to a beautiful 7 and a half month old girl, and I find that this is an occupation that really suits me. Not that the learning curve isn't a bit steep, but I really enjoy learning "home economy".

So, in search of self-actualization for my baby blog, I have been "blog stalking" a bit, and have found inspiration from others who treat homemaking as an art. Grace Violet is one of my favorites. She posts such cute crafty things!

So, here's my new plan: I will post projects, recipes, and household tips that have worked for me (0r that haven't in an interesting and funny way!). I love to sew and cook, and I am trying to enjoy (or at least tolerate) cleaning and organization.

But I need to go feed my daughter breakfast, so my first project is one that I have found on numerous other spots on the internet (my darling!). Regurgitated, if you will...

Baby pants made from old t-shirts. My husband works for Apple, and he has dozens of old promotional t-shirts. I also have a child who is in the 90th percentile for height in her age group and is outgrowing everything.

All you do is take a pair of your child's pants that fit well and fold them in half with the rise (crotch) curved all the way out.

Lay them with the hem lined up with the hem of the t-shirt lying flat.

With a watersoluble pen, chalk, or pencil, draw around the pants. Then, measure out 1/2 inch from your original line on both sides of the pants, and two inches from the waistband. Draw a new line to create seam allowance. This will be your cutting line.

Cut out. Flip over and trace on other side of t-shirt. Cut.

Now sew your pants together at the rise (crotch) with the seam on the wrong side. Sew with a straight stitch first, then zig-zag near the edge of the seam to prevent raveling.

Now sew up the sides of the pants on the sides, wrong side out. Again, zigzag to finish the seam. You don't have to hem, because the t-shirt already has a hem!

Now, fold the top of the pants down 1 inch. Press. Fold down another inch. Press. This forms a channel for the elastic to go through.

Now stitch around the bottom of the channel, leaving a small opening over the back seam.

Thread 1 inch waistband elastic, cut to the circumference of your baby's waist+1inch, through the channel. You can use a large safety-pin to help pull it through.

Sew the ends of the elastic together and close the space over the back seam.

Baby pants! You can also make these using the sleeves of a longsleeved t-shirt or sweatshirt.

I will update this with pictures post-haste!

I feel blue today. I don't have any good reason. It's a gorgeous day. My daughter is healthy and in a good mood. God is good. I'm not depressed or really upset about anything...just....blue.

Okay, I just went back and read sentences 3-5, and am starting to cheer up. I guess I just wish life were more exciting, sometimes. Good exciting, like a party, not bad exciting like an earthquake, in case someone decided to get cute and point that out.

What do you guys do to cure "the blues"?

Holy Peas

Wow! My inaugural post. I feel this is a portentous moment, and I should write something appropriately deep, witty, or inspirational as a sort of christening ceremony for what I hope will be a place to pursue conversation about so many things, mundane and sublime, that need an outlet wider than the everyday, running-of-the-household, conveying-of-necessary-information communication.

Unfortunately, at the moment, my musings are mostly along the lines of: How will my 5-month-old daughter react to the new experience of pureed peas tonight? and How can I make sure my dogs don't Houdini their way out of the backyard fence tomorrow?

I am comforted by remembering that my husband often quotes a favorite author's philosophy (I'll try to remember which one later!) that we falsely categorize actions as sacred/ordinary, but that in reality, in the Kingdom of God, all things are for the glory of God, and there are no "secular" acts for those whose mission is to act out the love of Jesus. Theoretically, laundry and cooking are just as legitimately worshipful as singing a hymn or preaching a sermon.

So, for today, I will have to just rejoice in the ordinary, and be grateful that my "ordinary" is very rich and wonderful, at least to me. Even with pureed peas looming.