Odds and Ends

I wanted to catch you all up on some additions to the blog.

On the sidebar under the Catholic New Media Advent calendar, there is a St. Andrews novena prayer, said between now and Christmas.  Under that, click on the Advent Wreath picture for a daily meditation on Scripture.

Our December Devotion is focused on Advent and the coming of Christ.  Click on the Our Lady of Advent icon for a peek at an Episcopalian blog, The Advent Door done by artist Jan Richardson.

Underneath that, our virtue for December is Union with God.  Click on the beautiful Saint Gemma holy card to go to http://www.stgemmagalgani.com and read about how she achieved this union. There is so much valuable information there about this wonderful saint!

YIM Catholic is a wonderful new site that posts about positive things happening in the Church around the world.

Take time from your busy Christmas preparations to check out some of these sites.

Facebook Privacy

For those of you on Facebook, beware of its ever changing privacy settings.  Unfortunately there are multiple privacy settings and you have to have a master's degree in technology to figure out how to deal with it!  Facebook is constantly changing its privacy related settings in response to--what else--money.  Many of  these settings are ones that you have to opt out of rather than choose to participate in.

Mashable has a nice explanation of the purposely confusing Facebook privacy issues and gives you steps to take for maximum privacy.  For the newest in Facebook's manipulation and how to get around it ("Instant Personalization" which you have to opt out of) visit the Librarian By Day.  Another good article is 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know.

One thing to remember is this: one of  the easiest ways to ensure privacy on Facebook is not to use many of their applications, including "pages" and "likes" in the first place.  I mean, does everyone who visits your page need to know where you work or even where you live?  If so, fine.  If not, don't put it.  Or, as Mashable mentions, divide your friend list into categories and only share some things with some people.

Facebook privacy is a real issue and, unfortunately, it changes constantly.

Will you be having fish with that, Ma'am?

By way of explanation, this is a picture of a sign that is currently sitting at the head of my street here in Pennsylvania. I can't help but think of fish and chips being offered when I see it. It refers to the oil and stone chip road surface that the state (or county) has seen fit to grace us with. The sign makes me smile whenever I see it.

Spring has sprung

Our grass is growing.

Time to get those goats.

j/k ;)

Word for the day? Cats

Apparently today's "word" for me, is, "cats". I had a dream about a bunch of kittens trying to get across a street. The mom cat was carrying one. A bunch of people on bicycles came down the street and the first one had to put on the brakes quickly, causing a pile up of bikes.

In real life, I had a job in Hanover today. Next to the building where I work, is an abandoned theater. I noticed, sitting in the otherwise empty display window was a beautiful brown tabby cat--very friendly, pawing the glass.

Seeing that cat made me smile. I think the lesson for today is to accept God's outpouring of love wherever you find it.

Note: The above picture is not the actual cat in question.

You go, girl!!

Eighty-one year old Queen Elizabeth II of England has been voted one of the world's most glamorous women by Vogue magazine. Apparently, the accolade was not given to her majesty merely for her access to expensive apparel.

"She is as glamorous in her brogues and headscarf in Balmoral as she is wearing the crown jewels."

It's a Twin Thing

Peter Sullivan Cirioli was born last Sunday morning at 1:32am. After thirty-four more minutes passed, his twin sister, Allison Raye Cirioli was born. BUT, because of the time change that took place at 2:00am that day, her birth was recorded as having taken place at 1:06am, 26 minutes prior to her brother. So, she is both 34 minutes younger and 26 minutes older than her brother.

Their mother, Laura Cirioli has decided not to get in the middle of what is likely to be a lifetime "discussion" between the two.

"I don't want to get into the middle of it,” Jason, their father, said.

Get out of the car!!

UPDATE: Snopes says this story isn't true, but it's still funny.

I have transcribed this account exactly as it appears from a forum I frequent.

(This is a supposedly true account recorded in the police log of Sarasota, FL.)

An elderly Florida lady did her shopping, and upon returning to her car, found 4 males in the act of leaving with her vehicle.

She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs, "I have a gun and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!"

The 4 men didn't wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad.

The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver's seat. She was so shaken, she could not get her key into the ignition.

She tried and tried, and then realized why. It was for the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a Frisbee, and two 12 packs of beer in the front seat.

A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down.
She loaded her bags into the car and then drove to the police station to report her mistake.

The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn't stop laughing.

He pointed to the other end of the counter where four pale men were reporting a carjacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than 5 feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a handgun.

No charges were filed.

The moral of the story? If you are going to have a senior moment...make it memorable!

Pictures

I have a fairly new cell phone that I have used to post pictures here and elsewhere. Unfortunately it has suddenly stopped being able to send them from my phone to my email address. I have no idea why. It could be because I had the audacity to drop it.

What rubs salt in the wound, though, is that it gives me this post that says, "Multimedia message sending failed." I am then forced to press "Ok."

It is NOT ok.

I want to be able to post my pictures!!!!!!

End of rant.

The Small Things

As I sit here at work, editing in the cafe, I thank God for the small things. First, the tv here is on the blink. So, I don't have to watch either CNN or ESPN. Second, the radio station they have on is playing wonderful 70's music--music I know the words to and music that, for the most part, makes me smile. I have had enough of being forced to listen to suicide-inducing country music when I shop at home. (No offense intended to country music fans--I just can't take the melancholy.)

On being the Queen:

Its a question of maturing into something that one's got used to doing and accepting the fact that here you are and it's your fate. In this existence, the job and the life go on together because you can't really divide it up.

Sounds rather like motherhood.

I was struck, while watching this, not only with Her Majesty's grace and graciousness but with her wisdom, which comes both which age and with living through *that* age. Amazing.

Hat tip to Fr. Jim Tucker.

Shine on, shine on, harvest moon

Tonight is the harvest moon. It is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Go outside tonight and enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

Flowers

I went nuts buying purple mums today. I'm not sure if I will plant them or leave them in the pots. Sadly, the picture here is not an actual shot of my garden, because my cell phone has decided to stop sending pictures to my email address. This is the entire reason I got a new cell phone--to be able to send myself pictures for posting. Oh well. I shouldn't have dropped such an obviously delicate device.

Anyway, the mums are pretty.

No Fun For Me

Here I sit,

writing on my blog,

when dh is in a skybox

at Camden Yards....

*Sigh*...

Answer me this

There is a cemetery on the way to our parish. I have noticed, aside from the usual flowers in various states of aliveness, that people have taken to putting glow in the dark crosses on their loved ones' graves. WHY IS THIS NECESSARY? I am truly perplexed as to the need for this. While I understand the wish to leave flowers, holy cards, letters, or other remembrances on a loved one's grave, my confusion on the glow in the dark crosses is two fold.

First, if the gravestone itself has a cross or other religious symbol on it, why the need to repeat it? This one, I actually can wrap my mind around. Anyone who has been to my house would be forgiven for wondering why I feel it is necessary to have yet another icon or statue of Our Lady when there are so many already there.

However, I truly don't get the glow in the dark part. Does one have a glow in the dark cross on a grave to show the deceased the way out? Or, perhaps it is to show the Lord the way in? Is it for the living who want to visit the grave in the middle of the night in the pitch dark?!?

I honestly don't know.

DIY Fashion

I know I'm way too old for this, but I've become fascinated by the DIY fashion movement. Apparently, the "younger" generation is rightly tired of being "told" what to wear by the fashion industry and corporate big business. That, coupled with a love of the environment, which translates into a reluctance to continue America's current love of throw away culture, equals a movement to individualize one's own environment, starting with the clothes on one's back.

Young people have figured out that fashion (and many other things) can be had for free, or very cheap, and individualized in a creative and fulfilling way. What's not to like?!

At the forefront of this movement is Threadbanger.com, a young, edgy website that shows DIY-ers how to do everything from design their own clothing, to make their own backpacks. Their how-to videos are posted on their website, as well as on YouTube. They even have a forum where people send in their own DIY ideas.

I will be the first to admit that many of these ideas are not new. The current vid on Threadbanger, which shows how to make a purse out of an old pair of jeans, is something I remember doing as a young teen.

The idea of reusing those ubiquitous plastic grocery bags is something my own dear mother in law used to do, much to the chagrin of a few of her children. She would wash out and reuse plastic sandwich bags, a trait that was easily explained by her growing up in New England during the Great Depression. Were she alive today, she would probably be intrigued, as I was, to learn of the possibility of crocheting a beach bag (or a throw rug) out of plastic bags! Ingenious!


Here is the latest Threadbanger video showing you how to make a purse out of old jeans. Does anyone else remember doing this as a teenager?!

A little relief from the heat

A glass of iced tea for this hot day. How do you take your iced tea? Most often, I have herbal iced tea, or decaf black iced tea. Occasionally, I'll put lemon and/or sweetener in it, but I often have it without anything added. We do have mint growing in our garden, so, when I think of it, I put some fresh mint in it.



Edited because yesterday's heat made me temporarily loose my ability to title a post using correct grammar!

Speaking from the Mountaintops

A story told by Old Wolf, a Cheyenne chief from Montana

In the land of the Cheyennes, there is a mountain higher than all the mountains around him. All the Cheyennes know that mountain; even our forefathers knew him. When children, we ran around wherever we wanted. We were never afraid to lose our way so long as we could see the mountain, which would show us home again.

When grown up, we followed the buffalo and the elk; we cared not where we pursued the running deer, so long as the mountain was in site; for we knew he was ever a safe guide, and never failed in his duty. When men, we fought the Sioux, the Crows, the white men. We were after the enemy, though the way ran high up, and low down. Our hearts trembled not on account of the road; for as long as we could see the mountain, we felt sure of finding our home again. When far away, our hearts leaped for joy on seeing him, because he told us that our home came nearer.

During the winter, snow covered all the earth with a mantle of white; we could no longer distinguish him from other mountains except by his height, which told us he was the mountain. Sometimes dark clouds gathered above. They hid his head from our view, and out of them flew fiery darts, boring holes in his sides. The thunder shook him from head to foot; but the storm passed away and the mountain stood forever.

This mountain is the Black-robe. (A Native American expression for a Roman Catholic priest.) His heart is firm as a rock. He changes not. He speaks to us the words of truth. We are always sure of our path, when we look to him for guidance. He is the mountain that leads us to God.

~from Magnificat Magazine

This is a first

We just made a hotel reservation. Our AAA membership has expired so we were looking for an alternative discount. We discovered that DH qualifies for a SENIOR discount!!! Ok, just barely, but he's in!

The Dentist

I've always thought that going to the dentist was a bit like going to confession. You don't want to do it, but you always feel better afterwards for having done it.

Today I realized, though, that when going to confession, you tell the priest your sins. With the dentist, he tells *you* your "sins"!

After lying in the chair and getting a sharp object stuck repeatedly in my gums, and hearing ever increasing numbers being calmly called out by the hygenist, I hear someone in the next room getting, "2-2-2; 1-2-2; 2-2-2" and similar numbers being read. I bet the patient was in his teens. At least that's what I'm telling myself.