Friday, March 9, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 10)


1. I finished my re-reading of all the Little House books.  I had read them in third grade, and really enjoyed them.  I still really enjoy them, and I think I get so much more out of them now as an adult.  It is truly amazing how self-sufficient people used to be.  I think it's sad that the majority of us have lost so much practical knowledge of how to do or make things.  We're so dependent on mass-production.

2. Next up on my reading list: The Omnivore's Dilemma (which I read half of over the summer and really enjoyed, but then had to return to the library, and kept forgetting to check out again), and The World According to Monsanto.  Both are books in the whole "real food" movement, and I would say they also fit the Little House theme.  They discuss how industrialized our society - especially our food production - has become.  And the latter book will give me more evidence for my conviction that Monsanto is a TOTALLY evil corporation.  Should be informative reading!

3. Wednesday night, we were praying the Rosary in the living room, in front of our little altar.  Usually, Sly would use this time finding new ways to be really loud and distracting.  But that evening, he decided a couple times to try to "join in" with Tom (who was leading).

The part Tom was saying for each bead was, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy whom, Jesus".  Several times, Sly joined in.  Although when Sly said the words, they sounded more like, "Ha hab baba gar ma ba ni ba....Gheee-Sus!"  It was the first time he's ever tried to say Jesus, and it just melted our hearts. 

4. As I was typing up that first part of the Hail Mary above, I thought of something.  I think Tom and I are the ONLY people I know who actually say "amongst" in the Hail Mary with the 'st' sound, rather than modernizing it to "among."  Every time I pray this prayer with other people, such as the Catholic Moms group, I hear myself being the only one in the room to utter that extra 'st' at the end, and then I get all embarrassed, and shrink into myself, and don't say the next few words.  Not that I want to change the way I say it.  But I hate being the only weird one.

5. We've had some unexpected money come our way recently: a larger-than-expected tax refund, my husband got a raise and a bonus from work (!!)....so we've been throwing some of the excess towards my student loans.  That's also where we put all of the money we received as wedding gifts (which was a significant amount, since we didn't register anywhere, and thus hardly received any traditional gifts). It's so exciting to see them getting paid off.  I think I probably had less student debt than a lot of people do these days, but it's been a burden on my mind.  We're going to end up paying it off a lot sooner than we would have.  And once that happens, we can finally start saving for a HOUSE.  Good good news.

6. The other day, I brought Sly to an event with the Catholic Moms group.  This little girl who looked about his age, came up to him and started hugging him.  Sly seemed a little taken aback at first, but then he decided to just go with it, and started kissing her - on the lips.  It was pretty adorable.  But a short time later, I caught him hugging and kissing on another little girl.  Uh oh...we might have a problem here!  haha

7. One of the only real downsides to the place we're living now is that we have no yard whatsoever.  All the houses in this part of town are built right against each other at the sides, and run right up to the sidewalk at the front.  A lot of the other ones have small backyards.  But we're a corner house, so with buildings surrounding us on all sides in the back, we lucked out of a yard.  So far, I haven't minded too much.  But come nicer weather, I think I'll really start missing having our own little patch of grass, or struggling vegetable garden (we're both pretty terrible gardeners, though I can't help but dabble in it each year).

So the plan for this spring is to fill up our narrow little front porch, the stoop, and the walls along the house with potted plants!  I'll create my own little green area to take care of and enjoy.  I think we might even get away with trying a few edible things...herbs are easy to do in pots, and Tom asked for a tomato plant.


See more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary

12 comments:

  1. I loved the Little House books SO much when I was a little girl! I recently read a novel by Caroline Fyffe called Where the Wind Blows that reminded me of the Little House books (but for grownups!) I'm a pretty awful gardener myself, but the one way I've been successful is when I've used an Earthbox. I bought mine online, but Lowe's or Home Depot may carry them now. They are perfect for container gardening and don't let you overwater your plants (my big failing)and produce WAY more than you would think for their size. I put an entire herb garden in mine last year!!

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  2. Be the weird one!! I say "amongst" and "thou" and now my husband does too. So much lovely language in the liturgy and older bible translations is gone because it wasn't correctly translated and had too much poetic license. Let's keep the lovely language where we can!! Proudly say amongst and thou and don't bat an eyelash if the others don't. I would bet you that half of them will start to do it with you eventually. :-)

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  3. We say amongst and thou... though it's not like we grew up saying it that way (my husband and I are both converts). I think we learned it that way from Relevant Radio, when we used to get it. I like the old language.

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  4. For the gardening look into the topsy turvy tomato plants...they make them for strawberries too! They work as long as they have sun and it saves space :)

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  5. I say amongst! I say "whilst" any chance I get too. Also "amidst." Long live "st!"

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  6. We have plenty of land but last year, for various reasons, I planted tomatoes in containers. They did really well.
    Sounds like Sly is going to be quite a "ladies man". It sounds like he is outgoing and affectionate :-)
    As for "amongst", use what is comfortable for you. I hear both versions.

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  7. I'm another who consistently says "amongst" and have no intention of changing.

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    1. Hi Stitchwort! Fancy running into you here. Just wanted to say my lettuce has fully recovered thanks to your tip awhile back!

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  8. We say amongst.
    Aren't tax refunds the greatest? Because Chuckie paid so much tuition this year, we basically got everything back that we paid in the first place. And since my withholdings were still at the single rate, it was a lot. We knew we'd get a good chunk--thats how I justified buying the camera and the money I'll use for Chuckie's iPad (graduation present, and it will be useful for him in the hospital) but I was pleasantly surprised by how much we got :)

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  9. Little House will be required reading for my kids. Hurray for Tom! And Sly is just adorable. I'm glad he was kissing them and not tackling them. :)

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  10. I also say "amongst" as I was always taught that that is the correct word. Anyone who says different is not a real Catholic! LOL! ;) jk....

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  11. My parents are pretty traditional about prayers so I grew up saying "amongst" and still do. I also grew up saying "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost" but then when I moved I learned the awkward way that people in the Pgh area usually say "In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit". I changed to "Spirit", but now when I go home I'm the odd man out again:)

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