Hooray For Sunday!
We are off to the Holy Sacrifice of the mass! Check back with us later, and don’t forget to use MassTimes.org to find a Catholic church anywhere in the U.S., and see what time those churches offer mass, confession, and more!
For all you narcissists out there, this one is for you
From time to time we get some delightful crosses to bear, but there is no reason for anyone to not have some fun while carrying them – like our narcissistic family members and friends or enemies. God loves you too, believe it or not, and we pray for you.
Did You Have A Teddy Bear?
Megan’s old teddy bear “Stitch”
Megan Ryan’s Voice – I still have the teddy bear I cuddled as a child. We put one of Toddler 1.0′s newborn dresses on it and call it Mother Bear now that Kindergartener 5.0 loves the Little Bear books. I’ve been hunting for the perfect doll for Toddler 1.0 for a long time now. Call me sentimental, but I never had any dolls to play with growing up, only stuffed animals. That’s not so terrible, but a little lacking in encouraging my nurturing side. I want a cute little Catholic nun doll to compliment Kindergartener 5.0’s Catholic priest doll (aka Padre). The company who makes his doll has a nun doll, but frankly, she’s not very cute. Plus we prefer the traditional habit like that of the Poor Clares seen on EWTN. I’ve kept my eyes peeled on the internet but come up empty so far. If any of ya’ll know of one, please tell me about it in the comments section of this post.
Liam Marcus’ Voice – Padre is awesome. He loves the little plush thing. Perfect for imagination games, and for sleeping company at nap time and night time. I used to have a Sello Rojo as my sleeping buddy when I was Kindergartener’s age. It was neat. It was the pet rice grain of one of Puerto Rico’s major rice producers. I wonder what happened to it.
In any case, I loved the little grain of rice with a chef’s hat, until I started watching GI Joe on TV. My mother helped me get this GI Joe figurine through the mail. It was an advertisement thing for the support of the show, not that it needed it. I got the evil doer, Cobra Commander, though, it was lots of fun because unlike the stiff looking Star Wars figurines, GI Joe action figures could move at every joint. Awesome!
Does Your Child Suffer From Hysterics?
Magnesium rich foods
Megan Ryan’s Voice – I have been experimenting with Kindergartener 5.0 for about six months now. All his life he had these strange bouts of what I called the Screaming Meemies approximately once a month, sometimes more. He would wake up in the middle of the night crying uncontrollably. He would sob and sob but any attempts to hold and cuddle him and he would start flailing his arms in a ‘don’t touch me!’ way and not allow much physical contact. He would be hysterical and unable to tell us what was wrong, and inconsolable for upwards of twenty minutes. Eventually Marcus figured out that if he told him a story, usually made up right there on the spot, he would gradually calm down enough to listen…if the story was interesting enough! Afterwards, or the next morning, he would tell us he didn’t know why he was crying, and that we was ‘just crying’ because he had to.
One day it clicked for me. Maybe he was suffering from the same manic type of restless leg syndrome I sometimes get late at night. I only suffer from it when I’m not getting enough magnesium in my diet. So to test my theory I instituted Magnesium Monday in our house, this helps me to remember. Every Monday I make sure the children and I get magnesium. My preferred method is eating swiss chard or other magnesium rich foods, but second best is a bath with epsom salts. I’m happy to report he has not had an attack of the Screaming Meemies since his first Magnesium Monday. Thank You Lord for the insight into his/our problem, and the natural means of curing it!
Liam Marcus’ Voice – Magnesium is the key? Well, I’m dumbfounded, but hey, if it works it works. However, don’t stop telling him those awesomely made up stories. Remember, as soon as he wakes up, he will remember the story line and then start telling you, “Remember when the bad man was put in jail by the good guy? Good guys always win.” In our stories, yes, good guys always win.
Eggplant Sausage Casserole in the Crockpot Recipe
Megan Ryan’s Voice – I freakin’ hate eggplant. So does everyone else in our family. Today we celebrated the last eggplant we ever have to eat because I finally used the last bag from the freezer left over from our organic rabbit farm CSA membership. Woohooooooo! Par-tay! Here is the only recipe any of us could stand eating eggplant. Click Here for the original recipe I used and adapted. It’s actually pretty darn good, but if you’ll excuse me, I have to go tear it out of my recipe binder now. 
Crock Pot Sausage, Eggplant, And Tomato Casserole
1 tablespoon coconut oil
one pound of sausage
1 Large White Onion, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
2 Eggplant, peeled and chopped
3/4 teaspoon Chili Flakes
1 (14.5 ounces) can Diced Tomatoes
1 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Flat-Leaf Parsley Leaves, chopped
1 tbsp. salt
Preparation:
1. Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Sautee eggplant until very tender.
2. Add sausage, onion, and garlic and sauté 2 to 3 minutes, turning occasionally until sausage is browned.
3. Dump it and everything else into the crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours, or high power for 4 hours.
Our Way To Hide That Gray
Keep them beardies rolling, rawhide!
Megan Ryan’s Voice - Marcus is cultivating a lovely black mustachio lately, and he and I were just bemoaning the fact that men’s mustache wax (think Poirot) is ridiculously expensive starting at $2 per ounce. Then I said, “Hey we should Google how to make our own.” Marcus thought for a second and said with a grin, “Well I have some left over tar in the garage.” We laughed, and I said, “It’ll hide your gray!”
Liam Marcus’ Voice – Ha ha ha, very funny man. I don’t want to look like this guy, just a bit smarter. Plus I am a bit superstitious, that’s all. I am thinking that if I get some mustachio handle bars, well, the other handle bars will disappear… you know what I mean?
Homeschool Of Fish – Year 6, Part 3 – Times That Make You Want To Quit
Megan Ryan’s Voice - It’s only week four of this year’s homeschooling, and already I can’t wait until it’s over…sometimes. Most people automatically assume the material/teaching is the hard part about homeschooling aka am I smart enough to teach? That’s not it. The REAL hard part is discipline, especially schooling teenagers. Being the teacher AND the principal and meting out the punishments, then stickin’ to yer guns. Teenagers are professional soldiers when it comes to emotional battles, and it’s all too easy to get stuck in trench warfare with them. Our teens are no different. They aren’t sassy, gum poppin’, eye rolling brats like a lot of public schoolers, but they are stubborn all the same. (Aren’t ALL teens??) They are having the usual difficulty (denial) in getting back into the new/old routine of school, and they are making everyone pay by shirking work and walking around with silent but dark thunderclouds over their heads. I’m SURE I was the same at that age – I freakin’ hated school.
As you know, I already warned them not to try last year’s shenanigans, but they’re doing it anyway. Neglecting subjects A, B, and C because they are at their mother’s house those days, and she doesn’t sit on their shoulders (like us) and ensure they complete all their work by the end of the day. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t crack a whip behind them all day shouting, “Heeyah mule!”. I write out the days work in a notebook and leave them to do it during the day. When it is finished, THEN privileges begin like having friends over and TV watching. If it isn’t done by 6 PM they have to stop for the day, do some push-ups (disciplinary action), and roll the work over into the next day and even into Saturday if need be.
It’s times like these Marcus and I fantasize about throwing in the towel. And I DO mean fantasize. “Hey honey the kids are in school! What do you wanna do today?! Drink ice cold beer at the beach?? Done! WHEEEeeeeeee!” Then we wake up and stick to our guns for one more day, then another, and another after that.
Liam Marcus’ Voice - Duh gone it! I don’t know how we’ve been able to manage without the public school system for, what, seven years. Well, well, well, a lot of patience and stamina; brain stamina. Ha ha ha. Hey, don’t sweat it, let’s have some fun. You know it’s been fun.
Visit Alien Country
