Happy New Year.

May God bless you all abundantly in 2008. I look forward to reading all your blogs and writing here.

Any New Years resolutions out there?

God bless

Therese

A Mothers Rule and Fly Lady.

Last week I got in the post a book called Sink Reflections by Fly Lady. The lovely Adrienne from Adrienne's Catholic Corner sent it too me for a gift.

I have been reading it and I love it. I did belong to Fly Ladies yahoo group for a short time but just couldn't get my head around the emails. There were so many and they didn't really have a plan laid out like the book does. I remember her telling me to shine my sink and put my shoes on. She also asked me where my washing was and a few other things. I stopped the emails because I just couldn't get my act together with them.

About three years ago now I read Holly Pierlot's A mothers Rule of LIfe. It was just what I needed. I worked out a routine. The first year was hard. I didn't really stick to it much at all. The second year it was better but I still had many disorganised days. This year has been the best of all. I have established some good routines and our house has been much more peaceful.

When Tom got him pump and started homeschool I started to fall behind. I just couldn't work out how to get all the extra things for Christmas done, homeschool Tom adequately and maintain our house.

I wrote about it on here and Adrienne came to my rescue. She sent me the book and it was just what I needed.

A Mothers rule helped me establish rountines but I think that Fly lady will help me with getting everything done. When I look at my routine and what I do I mostly do 90% of it and leave a little bit. This makes a difference in the long run. Fly lady has helped me see why I hate washing clothes and why I hate cleaning the bathroom. I think that these jobs are the ones that I only do the bare minimum and they never look really good and finished.

Fly lady talks about people that are born organised. In our house, Steve, Daniel and Brigette are our born organised people. The rest of us are SHE'S. (sidetrack household executives). After reading both Holly's book and Fly Ladies book I am starting to think that we SHE'S just need to find the right person to explain to us how to be organised and suddenly it will click. Holly's book was the starting point for me and Fly lady finished of the process. I think that after reading both books, I should be able to have our house running much more smoothly and be able to get everything done.

ETA, over at Jennifer F's blog Et-tu she has a Great post on Daily living that will hopefully be the icing on the cake for me this year. God points us in the right direction every time we need it.

Our Family Litany.

John Michael at St. Robert Bellarmine: Controversies & Secrets posted about their family litany a while back. I wanted to put one together for our family and John asked me if I would blog about it. So here you go John, for your enjoyment:

Here is what we have:

Leader: Lord, have mercy on us.
response: Christ, have mercy on us.
Leader: Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Response Christ, graciously hear us.

Leader: God the Father of Heaven,
Response: have mercy on us.
Leader: God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Response: have mercy on us.
Leader: God the Holy Spirit,
Response: have mercy on us.
Leader: Holy Trinity, one God,
Response: have mercy on us.

Leader: Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Response: have mercy on us
Leader: Imaculate Heart of Mary,
Response: Pray for us
Leader: Our Lady of Sorrows
Response: Pray for us.

Leader: St. Stephen the first martyr
Response: pray for us
Leader: St. Therese of the little flower,
Response: pray for us.
Leader: St. Thomas Moore,
Response: pray for us
Leader: St. Francis De Sales
Response: pray for us.
Leader: St. Mary Magdeline
Response: pray for us
Leader: St. Bridget of Sweden
Response: pray for us.
Leader: St Thomas and St. Peter the Apostles
Response: pray for us
Leader: St. Amelia
Response: pray for us
Leader: St. Christopher
Response: pray for us.

Leader: All you Holy Souls,
Response: pray for us.
Leader: All You Angels and Saints,
Response: pray for us.
Leader: Queen of Peace,
Response: pray for us who have recourse to you.
Everyone: Amen.

We have put in St. Thomas Moore for Daniel and St. Francis De Sales for Sam since they are the saints they took for Confirmation.
As far as I know there are no St. Daniel and Sam.

We have two winners.

This morning at 7.54 South Australian time, my 5000 visitor came to my blog.

There were two people that chose the 29th and they both chose in the evening. Lilder from Umm, where am I and Gopher mommy from A Mother's Love are our two winners.

Angels in the Water will be shipped to you this weekend.

Only 43 visitors to go.

My 5000th visitor is approaching fast. Go and make a guess now. I won't be accepting any more guesses once we have 4970 visitors.

good luck to everyone that has entered.

Therese

Happy Birthday Lisa.

Today is Lisa from Episcopollyanna Birthday.

Happy Birthday my dear friend and may you have many more.

May God bless you abundantly on this day and throughout the next year.

Here is a virtual cake for you (which is calorie free)

And a cuddly bear that cannot read yet but it really doesn't matter because he is so cuddly and tries really hard to hold the sign the right way.

I hope you have a great day.

God bless
Therese

I love this.

Catholic Carnival 152.

Ebeth at A Catholic Mum Climbing the Pillars is hosting the Catholic Carnival this week.

Here is the direct link to the Carnival.

Enjoy and thanks Ebeth for a great job.

I'm back.

We had a lovely Christmas and a couple of fun days away.

Before Christmas we all went down to Normanville for two nights. We wanted to take the children to Greenhills Adventure Park .

We had a great day there. It was good to spend some time together as a family. Now that both Daniel and Sam are working it is really hard to organise family time.

We all went on the big slides, in the canoes, moon bikes, maze, jumping bag and paddle boats. We took along a bbq lunch and cooked it. The only things I didn't do was the archery or water slides. It just wasn't warm enough for me to get wet.

Steve had lots of fun on the water slide with the children and helped Tom out with the archery.

Christmas day we went to Mass at Normanville and then drove into Adeliade. We got to Adelaide pretty early so took the children to a park before meeting my family at a different park for lunch.

After lunch with my family we went to Steve's sisters for Steve's families party. It was a fun night with lots of good company, food and drink.

We spent the night at my friend Di's house. Di and I watched Hairspray which I enjoyed.

It is good to be home. I hope your Christmas's were as fun as ours was.

Don't forget, my competition. I have two books to give away. If you can guess the date and time I will get my 5000 visitor, you win. You just have to be the closest. I only need just over 100 to get the 5000.

Go here to vote.

Merry Christmas.

H/T to Totus Tuus Family

This will be my last post until after Christmas. I hope everyone here has a very happy and holy Christmas.

Thank you all for your prayers and friendship over the year. You all are a great blessing to me.

May the Christ Child bless you all abundantly over the Christmas season and in 2008.

God bless
Therese

An update on Tom.

Tonight I changed Tom's pump site. We have been having high sugars for a couple of hours after the new site goes in. Tonight he stayed in the target range. Ketones have been nagative for a few days now so we look like we are back on track.

Thanks to everyone that prayed for Tom and I over the last few days.

God bless
Therese

My Christmas present came today.

I have wanted a benchtop mixer for ever. Today I went and bought one.

Over on the left is the model I got. It is a sunbeam cafe series model 8900. It comes with a 4.4 litre bowl and a 2.1 litre bowl. I have three different attachments for different kinds of beating. You can go here to read all about my mixers features.

So between now and Christmas day I will be in the kitchen whipping up all kinds of goodies. I have lots of different ones planned. The very first thing I am going to cook is Smoked Chicken and sundried Tomato cheesecake.

I also want to make a decadent triple chocolate cheesecake.

I am going to be pretty busy between now and Christmas so wont be posting as much over the next few days.

I hope everyone has a happy and holy Christmas.

Blogging blessing.

I want to thank Jean at Catholic Fire and Lisa at Episcopollyanna for passing on the blog blessing award to me.

I feel very honoured to be chosen twice. You have both made my day.

here is the blessing that Lisa passed onto me and here is the blessing Jean passed onto me.

You can go here to read about the blogging blessings that were started by Deb at Ukok.

The idea… it’s a game of tag with a difference, rather than looking inwardly, we look outside ourselves and bless, praise and pray for 3 blog friend. By participating in this endeavour we not only make the recipient of the blessing feel valued and appreciated, but we are having some fun too. We’re going to see how far the bloggin’ blessings can travel around the world and how many people can be blessed! Recipients of a bloggin’ blessing may upload the above image to their sidebar if they choose to. If you recieve a bloggin’ blessin’ please leave a comment on this thread here so that we can rejoice in just how many blessings have been sent around the world!

I want to bless the following bloggers:

1: Adrienne from Adrienne's Catholic Corner.

2: John from St. Robert Belarmine

3: Dana from Umm, where am I?

I bless Adrienne because God has used her several times to speak to me directly. The last post on prayer really spoke to me.

I bless John because he and his wife have been a great support for me with Tom. John put me in touch with his wife Regan who is also on an insulin pump and she has helped me with many of the problems that Tom has faced over the last couple of months. (So John, you have to share this blessing with Regan).

I bless Dana because she has been a really good friend for years at dcf forums. She has given me encouragement and lots of cyber hugs when life was tough and been a great friend.

A prayer for Adrienne, John and Lilder:

Lord I thank you for all you give to me. I especially thank you for the friendsip I receive from Adrienne, John and Dana. I pray your blessing on all of them everyday.

So, Adrienne, John and Dana, please pass on the blogger blessing to three other bloggers.

Funny.

Tonight I was looking through my sitemeter to see where people have come to my blog from.

If someone come via google it shows what they searched up.

You can go here to see what someone searched up and get a laugh.

Madeline begged me not to post it and embarass myself. I told her this wasn't embarassing for me.

Some very exciting news.

My friend Christine from More and More Dawson had her 7th child yesterday.

Christine was 12 days past her due date. The most exciting thing about this baby is it is the second son for them. They have 5 girls and now 2 boys.

Their daughter Caity kept everyone up to date with what was happening while Chris was in labour. She posted on their family blog and at the dcf message board in the ladies room. I was sound asleep while it was all happening but got up this morning to the great news.

Congratulations to Chris, Ken and all the family (especially Brian who must be thrilled to have a brother at long last).

What is your inner European?

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?

Yes. I do have the best of everything.

H/T to Lilder at Umm, where am I

Catholic Carnival 151.

Welcome one and all to my first host of the Catholic Carnival. I must say I am surprised at the amount of submissions I have had for this carnival. I didn't realize how much work goes into each one.

This weeks carnival is no exception to all the others. Plenty of good reading and lots of different great sites.

Firstly Sean McGaughey presents Things that Make Me Go Hmmm? posted at A Catholic Canadian. Go and see what Sean has to say about online community service and flesh and blood community service.

Next, Ian presents Large Families - Not Just for the Poor Anymore! posted at Musings from a Catholic Bookstore.


In keeping with the Advent season, Leticia Velasquez presents THE JESSE TREE posted at cause of our joy.

Also, Christine from Domestic Vocation presents Jesse Tree Readings, Second Saturday of Advent

Does the comercialism that comes with Christmas get you down? Ebeth presents My prayer for Christmas at A Catholic Mom Climbing the Pillars.

Heidi presents It's begining to look a lot like Christmas at Mommy Monsters Inc. Heidi looks at the blessings from the year. I am going to spend some time reflecting on this and write my own post about it.

Heidi also presents Heavenly Hug at Silent Canticle.

Can't think of what to get someone for Christmas? Melissa presents A free faithful Christmas Gift at A Third Way.

Denise Hunnell presents My Revised Christmas List posted at Catholic Matriarch in my Domestic Church aka Catholic Mom. In this post, Denise talks about doing the really important things. Her 4 important things are going onto my to do list too.

The Christmas movie Noelle has caused quite a stir.

Jean presents Noelle the movie posted at Catholic Fire.

Joshua C. Karlin presents How Should We Give? posted at Marketing & Fundraising Ideas.

In Coming Home For Christmas Owen of Luminousmiseries considers the special journey of a friend of his who is presently incarcerated and what it means this particular Advent season.

Esther presents Three Ways to Fight the Devil posted at A Catholic Mom in Hawaii.

Elena LaVictoire presents The O'Antiphons start tomorrow posted at My Domestic Church.

Leo Wang presents Cross Tree at Extraordinary Time. This is a Java applet showing a Christmas tree made up of crosses.

Are you busy with life in general? Sarah from Just another day of Catholic pondering presents Not enough time in the day. In a letter to moms of young children (and, really, women everywhere) Sarah shares encouragement in the "Battle to Push You to Do More."

Have you ever wondered what are the consequences of going green?

If so, Christine presents Australian Medical Expert Advocates Baby Tax to Offset "Greenhouse Gas" Emissions at The World IMHO

Is Frosty a Christian Allegory?

Domini Sumus presents Frosty the Christian Allegory posted at We Belong to the Lord.

Erin presents "Speak, show, argue, listen, rebut, correct, pray." posted at Bearing Blog and looks at what the new Doctrinal Note on evangelization requires of us.

Seth presents Burning Question at Catholic Land. A roundup of and final thoughts about Purgatory, Indulgences, and the Spiritual Economy.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Travel and Engagement as Good Brain Exercise posted at Brain Fitness Blog.

Are you interested in learning about Catholic Social Ethics?

David Jones presents Deacon Keith Fournier interviews Govenor Huckabee at la nouvelle theologie.

Geoffrey Taylor presents Obedience, Humility, Patience - The Byzantine Catholic Church posted at Small World.

Are you like me and need help with the virtue of patience? Kevin presents Patience at his coming posted at Heart Mind and Strength.

Finally, we have three great homeschooling articles from Whimsy.

Whimsy presents HOMESCHOOL AS BEATITUDE posted at Whimsy-Whimsy.

Whimsy presents Teachers Love (and Hate) Flex Days posted at Whimsy-Whimsy.
Enjoy!

Whimsy presents School Lunch Program posted at Whimsy-Whimsy.

So that is it for this week. Thank you everyone for your submissions.

Tom needs prayers again.

If you could all please offer a prayer for Tom. Yesterday his canula came out without us pulling it out and we have changed the site twice since then. His sugars have been very high since then and he now has ketones.

I am hoping we will be able to see a diabetes educator today and hopefully they will know what is causing this problem.

Thanks
Therese

Hey. now I know another reindeer's name.

You Are Blitzen

Always in good spirits, you're the reindeer who loves to party down with Santa. Why You're Naughty: You're always blitzed on Christmas Eve, while flying! Why You're Nice: You mix up a mean eggnog martini.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

lol. H/T Jane at Building the Ark.

Getting everything ready.

Over the last couple of weeks Steve has been preparing our bedroom for painting. If you all remember, our bedroom is an old kitchen so he had to pull the tiles off the walls and remove the taps too. The walls have been a lot of work. He is finally just about ready to paint though. Now the hard part is agreeing on what colour to paint it.

I have made a bit of progress with the children's clothes that need to be sewn and had a shopping trip on Saturday and got most of our presents. I will have another shopping day later this week.

I spent a bit of the weekend working out our food menu for the next two weeks. I found a great recipe for home made egg nog at As we wait in Joyful Hope and I am going to have a go at making it. If we have egg nog here, I buy it in a carton. I am also going to make some White Christmas and Rumballs and make a Christmas Pudding. I haven't ever made my own Christmas pudding or egg nog before so I am looking forward to making them both. I hope they turn out as yummy as they sound.

I love holidays.

The children are all finished. Steve has one day left. Yesterday was such a relaxing day. I had to take Daniel to work early but went back to bed after Steve had left for work. Since our neighbour's car has been burnt, I haven't slept well. I am waking at every single creep. Our gates were rattling a lot last night and every time I thought is someone out there? When I got up I did a bit of housework and then started my sewing. I got Amelia's dress cut out. I also traced Tom's pattern and started tracing Christopher's.

I took Brigette, Amelia and Christopher to the pool. When Steve came home, he took the children to the library and I went and did some shopping. After tea we went to soccer. Steve and I made some final decisions on Christmas presents.

Madeline's friend came for a sleepover after soccer so they had a late night. Today we will go to the soccer presentation and then I think all our commitments for the children's extra activities are over. I really enjoy days that we don't have to be anywhere at any time. That is what the next week will be like. We will hang out around the house, do housework and go to the pool. I will hopefully get a lot of sewing done and I am looking forward to trying out the oamc sometime during the holidays.

What Christmas movie are you?

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Very Brady Christmas

For you, it's all about sharing times with family. Even if you all get a bit cheesy at times.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

H/T Jean and Alexandra

Tagged again.

Boy. It seems that every corner I turn these days I am getting tagged. I really like tags. It makes me think about myself and what I really am like.

Thanks to Shelly at Keeper of the Keys for this meme.

1. One book that changed your life: A Mothers Rule of life.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Agatha Christie's The big 4.

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: The pieta prayer book.

4. One book that made you laugh: Graham Crackers, Goloshes and God.

5. One book that made you cry: Flowers in the Attic.

6. One book that you wish had been written: A mothers guide to once a month cooking.

7. One book that you wish had never been written: The whole Flowers in the Attic series. I read them when I was a teen but would never let any of my teenagers read them. They just have too many immoral things happening without any consequences.

8. One book you’re currently reading: Create your own Classical Curriculum.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: The same as Shelly, I have been meaning to read the Screwtape letters.

Now 5 people to tag.

Mark at Dominican Idaho.
Bon from Defenders of the Catholic Faith. You can answer here in my comments section.
Karin at Wife and mom of two.
Muddy Mama.
and finally:
Adrienne at Adrienne's Catholic Corner.

At 1 am this morning.

The police knocked on our door.

I didn't hear them. Steve got up and that half woke me then he came back and put on the light, got dressed and said I'm going to answer the door.

He went of and I heard him talking to someone. Then he came back into our room and I asked him what is going on. He said someone tried to set our next doors neighbours car on fire.

I don't know exactly what happened but the perpetrators were heard and when my next door neighbour went outside they jumped over the fence and ran down the street.

So we had a bit of midweek excitement. Although this is the kind of excitement I can do without. Please pray for these perpetrators and my neighbour. She must feel so violated.

ETA, Steve has looked at the car and it is wrecked. There are some real idiots out there.

The Child King.

Lynn over at Signs and Wonders did the Christmas meme.

In it she mentioned that she hopes that the movie The Child King would become her new favourite Christmas movie.

I went and had a look at the site and have ordered the dvd for our family. Each year we try to get a family movie and this movie is going to be it this year.

The movie is about a Young man with Down Syndrome that takes his brother to find Santa.

I cannot wait for this to come.

busy busy busy.

The Christmas season is lots of fun but I get really stressed out with all the different Christmas shows.

Last night we had Christmas Carrols and a BBQ tea at the school. On Thursday night we have a Scout Christmas party out our house.

Because we went out last night no one did any of their evening jobs. It was also difficult to get the children out of bed this morning. Most mornings I try to get up around 5.30 to pray and go on the internet before the children get up. I haven't been doing that much since I came back from Adelaide with Tom becuase I have been up through the night checking his sugars. Now I only need to get up at midnight so I started getting up early on Sunday morning again. I wasn't able to get out of bed early this morning either.

So the housework is behind and the house looks like no one has done any work for a month. I was going to go over to the school at lunch time for a shared lunch but I have decided to give it a miss and get things done here.

I really need to look at my mothers rule and work out how to fit extra things in and keep up with the housework. Those of you that have a mothers rule, how do you cope with the extra activities at this time of year?

Can you guess?

Over in the sidebar you can see my sitemeter icon. At this moment I have 4106 visitor's to my blog.

Can you guess when I will get my 5000 visitor?

This shows a summary of my visitors so all those mathematical minded people work out the average and see if you can guess.

Last time Leah from Lowdenclear won. I will have a prize for the nearest time and date. I don't know what it will be though yet.

ETA I have two books for the prize. The two closest guesses will win a copy of the book Angel in the Water which can be read here.

Christmas Meme.

Lisa from Episcopollyanna has tagged me for this Christmas meme.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Definitely gift bags. I hate wrapping presents.

2. Real tree or artificial? We have an artificial. I don't think we could get a real tree here. Marie probably could but the climate we live in doesn't really grow Pine trees. When we lived in Millicent there were lots of real Christmas trees and we were given one the first year there. I love the smell of the pine but hated cleaning up all the pine needles that dropped off.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually on the first week of advent. I haven't got it up yet this year.

4. When do you take the tree down? No set time. Just when I am sick of it being around.

5. Do you like eggnog? love it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember the year I got a watch and dress wrapped up together. I loved the dress and the watch.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? no. I want to get one though.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother in law.

9. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Like Lisa, I cannot think of one.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I am a very slack snail mail writer. Every year I buy cards intending to post them and usually they don't get posted. I then send out e Cards at the last minute. :::oops:::

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Like Lisa, I love love love A wonderful life. It just isn't Christmas if we don't watch it.

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Most of our Christmas shopping is done in December. If I see toys that I know the children are interested in through the year on special I will grab them and put them away.

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably. I cannot think of a spacific one though.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas pudding with custard.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? coloured.

16. Favorite Christmas song? Joy to the World.

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We usually travel home to the town we grew up in.

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? no. I know that there is a Rudolph, dasher and prince. I cannot name the others.

19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel.

20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Without a doubt, the comercialism.

22. Best thing about this time of year? all the family is on holidays.

I want to tag Lynn at signs and wonders and Erin at Seven Little Australians

A fun night.

Tonight the pageant was on in Port Augusta.

We went along to help out with the scout bbq. I did the serving while Steve watched the younger children and the pageant.

After the pageant we headed down to Hungry Jacks for tea. Pageant night is their busiest night of the year. They have free lucky dips for the children, free photo's with Santa and 10% of for staff families. Both Daniel and Sam work at Hungry Jacks so we got our 10% off.

In town they usually have a party with free rides. Over the last couple of years Steve and I have found this really stressful and hard to keep an eye on where our children are so going to Hungry Jacks for tea was a nice alternative.

This weekend Daniel and Sam will put up our Christmas lights.

Sam, Brigette and Amelia will finish school next week on Wednesday so that will probably be Tom's last day of home school too. Madeline will finish of Friday and Steve should finish on Monday week. We will have 6 weeks of holidays and are looking forward to our Christmas break.

Great Christmas baking site.

For all those mum's (or mom's) out there looking for lots and lots of great christmas goodies, this would have to be the best site I ever came across.

North Pole Kitchen

H/T to Gail at Butterfly Gail for this website.



There are also a couple of hidden stories in the picture which Christopher enjoyed.

Tasty Tuesday Tuna Mornay.

Tonight I cooked Tuna mornay for tea so thought I would post the recipe I used and the carb factors.

Now that Tom is on a pump we need to count every bit of carb going into his body. The way this is done is by working out the total carbs in the recipe and then weighing the food. If the food weighs 2kg and has a total of 300 carbs then we divide 300 into 2000 and get a carb factor of 0.15.

If Tom eats 200 grams then he has a total of 30 gram's of carbs.

Simple maths (when you have a calculator). I am working out the carb factor for all my recipe's and writing it down in a little book that I am keeping in the kitchen by the scales. It is a lot of work now but once I have most of our recipe's I will only have to weigh Tom's food.

Tonights recipe:

1 can of Tuna in Springwater.
2 medium onions
1 can of creamed corn.
1 can of corn kernels.
500 grams of mixed frozen vegetables.
2 cups of milk.
50 grams plain wholemeal flour.
2 tablespoons of oil.
1 packet of Dried French Onion soup.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onions. When the onions are turning clear add the flour. Mix to make a think paste. Add a little bit of milk at a time and mix until it disappears into the paste. Keep adding milk until all is added. Add the tuna, mixed vegetables, corn, cream corn and french onion soup. Bring all to the boil and simmer for 15 min.

Serve with rice or pasta.

Carb factor is 0.18 per gram.

Praying Novena for family members.

Marilena at Divine Mercy Blog has a great idea about praying for family members.

She suggests that each month we pray a novena for each member of our family during the month that their birthday falls in.

This is such a great idea I had to link to it.

Thanks Marilena. I will be offering special prayers each month for all my family.

RoseMary Teresa

Any of you that have been following my pray blog would know that one of my prayer intentions for my rosary has been to pray for RoseMary Teresa.

RoseMary Teresa was the 10th child and first girl for Mary and Dave. She was born with Trisomy 18.

Last night RoseMary Teresa died in her parents arms. She was surounded by her brothers, uncles, aunts and cousins. They were praying the rosary.

I have opened up the comments for this post so that people can go and leave a message for RoseMary Teresa's parents and brothers.

The link is below.

RoseMary Teresa Goes Home

meme.

8 random facts about me.

I read this tag over at blondie's Xanga and told her I would do it.

First of all, the "rules"

....Here's what you do:~Each person starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves and post these guidelines. ~At the end of the post, choose 8 people to be tagged and list their names.~Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that they are tagged and to read your blog. Have fun!

1 If there is a way out of work, I will always find it. I always look for short cuts and ways of making a job easier. (I really am lazy).

2. I am very shy and hate talking to strangers.

3. My favourite movie of all time is A wonderful life.

4. I hate the sight of blood.

5. My dream holiday is a weekend away with Steve on some deserted island resort.

6. I was a very rebelious teen.

7. I have more friends online than irl.

8. I love spaghetti with any sauce. I think I could eat it every night and not get sick of it.

Now I tag the following:

1. JoAnn at Creamer Chrioncles

2. Fr. Tim at Spirit of Vatican two

3. Lisa at Episcopollyanna

4. Ivar at Mussings on the Divine

5. John Michael at St. Robert Bellarmine: Controversies & Secrets.

6. Lisa at Unexpected Journey

7. mum6kids at Thinking love, Not twaddle

and finally

8. radtradchad at Society of St. Leo 1st

The start of Advent.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.

Here is what Advent is about From EWTN:

The word Advent is from the Latin adventus for "coming" and is associated with the four weeks of preparation for Christmas. Advent always contains four Sundays, beginning on the Sunday nearest the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, (November 30) and continuing until December 24. It blends together a penitential spirit, very similar to Lent, a liturgical theme of preparation for the Second and Final Coming of the Lord, called the Parousia, and a joyful theme of getting ready for the Bethlehem event.

Since the 900s Advent has been considered the beginning of the Church year. This does not mean that Advent is the most important time of the year. Easter has always had this honor.

The traditional color of Advent is purple or violet which symbolizes the penitential spirit. Religious traditions associated with Advent express all these themes.

I am going to make an Advent Callender and Advent wreath. I really should have done it last week but didn't get the time. Tom and I will be able to do it this week for his religion lessons.

Another Award from Divine Mercy.

Divine Mercy has chosen this blog for the blog of the year along with View From The Pews and A Catholic Mom in Hawaii.

Thanks Marilena for this award. I feel very honoured to be chosen by you.

Our week in review.

It has been a busy week with the trip to Adelaide midweek. We have had a lot of sucess with changing Tom's pump to the sillhouette inserter and yesterday we changed the insertion site into his bottom. He is going the full three days now with one set and we are getting a pretty good idea of what base rate he needs. Sugars are staying more consistent and I am noticing that he works well when his sugars are like that.

On Sunday Madeline was in her Musical Theatre play. She was a Island girl and mermaid. I wasn't able to get to the play because I needed to cook and get organised for the trip to Adelaide. Steve took Tom, Amelia and Christopher.

Monday we got our paper work for our taxation. We are getting a big refund this year. The cheque should arrive in about two weeks.

Tuesday I headed of to Adelaide with Tom and Christopher.

Sam started working this week. He has a job at Hungry Jacks. Last Thursday was his first day on the job. Daniel has been working there for three years now and enjoys it. He said that Sam went well.

We had family night at Madeline's school on Thursday too. They started with a bbq and then each class did a dance. Madeline's class danced to Crazy Frog. It is one of my favourite songs.

Because of the late night Thursday night only Daniel and Sam went to school on Friday. I must admit I am ready for the holidays now and don't feel too motivated to get them ready. The children have two weeks of school left and then they have 6 weeks off over Christmas. Next year Tom and Amelia will do homeschool, Madeline will go to our local public school and Daniel, Sam and Brigette will be at Caritas.

Yersterday was Daniels last day of school. He won the leadership award for year 10's and was presented with a certificate and cheque for $100.00 at the closing asembly. We are very proud of him and all that he has achieved this year.

This weekend is going to be busy. Steve is weeding the garden and doing lots of little jobs out the front.

I am hoping to get snacks for the week made and start the girls curtains.

It is the first week of advent and I thought I would change my blog colour to purple for the 4 weeks.

Have a great weekend.
Therese

A couple of awards.

Earlier this week Marie and Ginny awarded me an Emmanuel Award.

Thanks so much for This award Marie and Ginny.

The Emmanuel Award is:

In a consumer society it is a blessing to read blogs where the writer's main focus is God. Where they express their love for their faith so visibly and joyfully.

In a cynical world it is refreshing to see so many blogs which are generous, giving, who care about others and demonstrate what being a Christian is about, loving God and loving our neighbor.

Through their faith, lives and spirituality, they bring God to us, they in essence make God visible, 'God with us.'

This Award goes to all the faith filled blogs who make evident 'Emmanuel'- God with us, with Joy in their hearts.

Please share this Award with Christian blogs that focus on the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior.

Peace, JOY & Merry Christmas.

I want to pass this award onto the people in my blogroll. You are all there because you really do make Emmanuel - God with us evident.

Please pray for this parish.

I got this in an email this morning:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07112807.html

US Catholic Parish set to "Publicly Bless the Relationship of Same-Sex Couples" Openly challenges Church moral teachings
By Hilary White.

ST. PAUL - MINNEAPOLIS, November 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - St. Francis Cabrini church, of the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese, has announced on their website that they are ready to "bless" homosexual partners.

The parish has published a "Statement of Reconciliation" repudiating the Church for its teaching on sexual purity and married chastity and misrepresenting these teachings as a form of "oppression." The statement said the parish will "Publicly bless the relationships of a same sex couple after the couple completes a process of discernment similar to that completed by heterosexual couples before marriage."

The parish statement goes on to pledge that it will publish in the homosexual press their commitment to the homosexual activist agenda and to including "a gay/####### perspective in catechesis at all levels, including elementary school age." The parish currently runs catechesis programmes for children from ages three and up.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the pastor of the parish is Fr. Leo Tibesar who is a national leader in the anti-Catholic homosexual lobbying organisation, Dignity. Fr. Tibesar was recorded this week preaching a homily refuting Catholic teaching on sexuality and accusing those who uphold it, including bishops, Cardinals and "Evangelicals", of hypocrisy.

In May 2006, when LifeSiteNews.com revealed Fr. Tibesar's leadership role in the homosexual political movement within the Church, he was not the pastor of any parish. It was since the revelations of his involvement in the anti-Catholic campaign group that he was assigned to St. Francis Cabrini. He is also a longstanding figure in Archbishop Flynn's archdiocesan programmes preparing couples for marriage.

The parish says it "stands willing" to accept "openly gay or ####### priests or lay ministers" despite the widely available statistics showing the high prevalence of homosexual clergy perpetrators in the Church's ongoing sexual abuse crisis.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, head of Human Life International, told LifeSiteNews.com that the parish's statement was "totally contrary to the Catholic faith". "I can only say what the scriptures say, this is an abomination. The blessing of homosexual partners is an abomination and the corruption of children is a scandal," he said.

"The fact that they are placing themselves in opposition to the bishops, that they specifically cite the bishops in opposition to them, means they have placed themselves outside the communion of the Catholic Church and apostolic tradition of the Church. In fact in opposition to it."

Fr. Euteneuer explained that Catholic teaching was not a matter of arbitrary or politically motivated decisions but a "clear understanding of human sexuality passed down to us through the centuries and faithfully passed on by the Church." He added that those actively living a homosexual lifestyle separate themselves "not just from the Church but from God".

The leader of the international Catholic pro-life organization stated, "We're not talking about disordered persons but disordered desires and actions. The bishops have been very clear, and the papal teachings go back forever on this issue. I think what it comes down to is that these people worship a different god than we worship."

In his 2003 book, "Anti-Catholicism in America The Last Acceptable Prejudice", US Episcopal author and historian Philip Jenkins identified these themes as the guiding conventions of the latest wave of anti-Catholic bigotry, fuelled by the sexual and "gender identity" politics common to the American left since the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Euteneuer said, "I agree with Jenkins and I think the other side of the coin is that we have people within our own ranks, wolves in sheep's clothing, who are not only not authentic Catholics but are working on an anti-Catholic agenda from within the Church."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:Prominent Minneapolis-St. Paul Priest a Leader in National Homosexual Lobby Group http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/mar/06032009.html

ON TAPE: U.S. Priest Blasts Vatican Cardinal and Archbishop over Homosexuality During Homily http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07112602.html

Readers may contact the Archdiocese to express concerns:
Most Reverend Harry J. FlynnArchdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis 226 Summit Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55102 (651) 291-4400 communications@archspm.org

Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt Coadjutor Archbishop Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis226 Summit AvenueSaint Paul, MN 55102(651) 291-4400 communications@archspm.org

Please help Sophia Institute.

Go here to read about what is happening with Sophia Institute.

If you cannot help with donations please pray for their apostolate.

Back from Adelaide.

I took Tom to Adelaide yesterday and we caught up with the Endocrinologist and Diabetes Educator.

We are changing the site that the pump goes into and getting a backpack for him to put his pump on his back. This way he will not touch his tube or site so hopefully he won't have such a problem with insulin getting through and the site will last for three days.

I am going to keep in close contact via phone and email with both the Endo and DE so hopefully we will get a good picture soon of the basal rate that Tom needs.

Here is a picture of the pouch we are hoping to get for Tom to put the pump on his back.

Thanks so much to everyone that has been praying for us. We will soldier on.

Patron Saints for 2008 now up.

Thanks to Angela Messenger for doing this. Go here to get your saint.

These are our Saints for 2008.

Me: St. Gianna Beretta Molla.
Steve: St. Peter Chanel.
Daniel: Lawrence of Brindisi
Sam: Ignatius of Loyola
Madeline: Margaret Mary Alacoque
Brigette: Teresa of Avila
Tom: Joseph Cupertino
Amelia: Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist)
Christopher: Alphonsus Liguori

Those of you that put your name down can go and see who your patron is for the year.

Thanks Angela for doing this.

Learning Perseverance

Thanks to everyone that has been praying for Tom and I.


I am starting to believe that God is teaching me perseverance with this all.


Back in July I spoke with a Diabetes Educator about getting Tom onto a pump. Around that time I was chosen by St. Thomas the apostle. I thought right then that St. Thomas choosing me was confirmation that we were heading on the right road with Tom especially when he was named specifically after this St. Thomas. I also thought that because he was praying for me and because I was getting confirmation that this was what God wanted me to do that it would be perfect and I would have no problems with it.

I put God in boxes like this often. I say to him well because I am following your will life will be easy and have no problems. This isn't true. I can see now that God is using this situation with Tom to teach me some greater truth. He is teaching me what it means to persevere. Without perseverance we cannot attain Heaven. Without perseverance we are not going to know the right dose of insulin for Tom and be able to have his diabetes managed well. The Diabetes Educator that we saw today told me that within three months we should have a pretty good pattern and know exactly what Tom needs. This takes work from both me and Tom but will have good long term consequences. We need to keep the long term goal in mind not a bad day here and there.

So thanks for all the prayers. I know that it is because of all your prayers that I have been able to persevere through the hard days. There will still be some hard days to come but I know that they will help us get a better picture of what Tom needs.

It has been a tough day.

But I think we have it all behind us now. Tom had ketones again. After speaking with the Endocrinologist we decided this evening that he needed a higher basal rate. This is the insulin that goes in slowly all the time. Usually having ketones indicates that the insulin isn't going in but we don't think that was the case with Tom today. He simply had been high for a bit too long. We have changed his basal rate so hopefully we will have good sugars now.

Today was the Federal Election in Australia. We have a new Prime Minister. Our new Prime Minister is Kevin Rudd. I wonder what this Govt will be like.

Socialisation. (again)

Today I was reading over at Totus Tuus Family a post on Socialisation. It is very funny. Go and check it out.

Thanks to everyone that prayed today for Tom. It looks like we have worked everything out. He is having a different inserter for the insulin to get into his body.

Tom needs prayers.

During the night Tom had ketones in his blood. Blood ketones are postive in the blood at 0.5 and Tom had 1.1. I had to resite his pump and give him extra insulin. Even though I did this he still has ketones in his blood and they are 2.6 this morning. This is pretty high so if you could please offer a prayer for him that the doctors can figure out what is happening and that his ketones come down.

thanks
Therese

Why God made mothers.

I got this in an email and wanted to share it with you all.

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Answers are given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on. Ha ha ha ha!!!

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

We Belong to the Lord: Catholic Carnival 146

We Belong to the Lord: Catholic Carnival 146

This weeks Catholic Carnival.

Once a month Cooking.

In my tasty Tuesday post I had a link to frugal mom's once a month cooking (oamc). I have been thinking about giving it a try.

I was thinking of doing my first atempt during the Christmas holidays. My plan is to make a list of ten different meals and we will have each meal three times in the month.

Has anyone else ever done oamc? I think to do this kind of cooking would save us a lot of time. The clean up after tea would be easy and I wouldn't have to plan dinner during the day. When I came back from Adelaide last week the house was still pretty well organised. The only thing that was big was the washing. I knew it would be like that though. I am pretty sure if I hadn't cooked ahead that the place wouldn't have been so organised. I am also hoping that it will save us a bit of money.

Tasty Tuesday.

Today I cooked Chicken Enchiladas for tea.

I have been looking at the once a month cooking site for a while now and decided to try a few recipes and see what they are like. This was delicious.

I gave Tom a cooking lesson and he helped me cook the sauce this afternoon. We made up the Enchiladas this evening and put them in the oven for all to eat.

This is the recipe:

Ingredients for Cooking Day:
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2 Tbsp. butter
1 boiled chicken, deboned, skinned and chopped
1 - 4 oz. can mild green chili peppers chopped
1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. of salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
3 Tbsp. butter
3 oz. Monterey Jack cheese shredded
3 oz. Cheddar Cheese shredded
12 6-inch tortillas
Cooking Day Instructions:
Saute onions and green peppers in butter. Add cooked chicken and green chili peppers.
In separate pan heat chicken broth and and cream of chicken soup. Remove from heat and mix in sour cream and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Stir 1/2 cup of the sauce into the chicken mixture.
Dip each tortilla into remaining sauce to soften; fill each with the chicken mixture. Roll up and arrange seam side down in a baking dish prepared for freezing. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with remaing cheese. To freeze use the foil and plastic wrap method. For instructions of this method click here.

How cool is this.

I love being a Catholic. We have saints for everything.

I was looking at my sitemeter and someone had came to my site by googling patron saint of sewing.

I went to the google page to see what it had and it tells me that St. Seraphina, St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Parasceva are the patrons of sewing. Now I know who to ask for prayers when I have a difficult project.

Tomorrow we start.

Tomorrow we start our full time homeschooling program. We have had a couple of days that he was home and I did it before he left school. I have his program all worked out and I am really looking forward to spending more time with him. Some days he says he wants to go to school still and other days he is happy about it. Please pray for us as we start this new chapter in our life.

Thanks
Therese

Christmas Recipes.

Jane at Building the Ark is having a christmas cookie swap. I love baking christmas goodies so have a couple of recipes to share.

My first recipe is White Christmas:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups mixed dried fruit
1 cup powdered milk
2 cups rice bubble cereal
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 tsp. vanilla
8oz. (250gms) white vegetable shortening

Method:
Melt the shortening. Add vanilla.Place all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly.Add melted shortening (not too hot) and mix till well combined.Press into a shallow tin and allow to set in refrigerator.Cut into squares.

Next is Rum balls. (I haven't made these yet but this is on the list to give to the children's teachers this year).

Ingredients:
9 Vita Brits or Weet Bix crushed
½ cup coconut
1 cup chopped raisins
2 tabsp. Cocoa
1 tin condensed milk
3 tabsp. Bundaberg rum
extra coconut

Method:
Mix together well in a bowl.Cover in the fridge for ½ hour. (That's what we do in Australia.)(Yours could probably sit in the bowl in the snow.)Shape into balls and roll in coconut.

If you have any recipes go and tell Jane about them.

A bit more about the pump.

I just read my last post about the pump. I realize that I left a lot of infomation out and many of you probably are thinking what the heck is she talking about.

With an insulin pump Tom receives insulin all the time. When he was having injections he would receive a dose of insulin all at once and this meant that he would have to eat at the exact right time or go low.

With a pump he receives a small dose every hour. We have programed into the pump what insulin Tom needs for each hour of the day. It is just a small amount. This is called the basal rate. Everytime Tom eat's carb's we give him some extra insulin. The amount is worked out by entering in his bsl (blood sugar level) and the amount of carb's he is eating. This is called the bolus rate.

The first couple of days we were testing Tom's sugars all the time. If his sugars went high we would check to see if he had ketone's. If he did then we knew that there was a problem with the pump and that he needed to resite the pump.

Monday Tom had the pump put in. Tuesday he had ketones and needed to have it resited. Wednesday the same. Thursday he didn't wake with ketones but was fiddling with the pump and pulled the attachment of. We weren't able to reattach it so had to resite it again. Hopefully this one will last until tomorrow.

We are still trying to get the basal rate right. I am doing a lot of bsl tests. I have to test him every night at midnight and 3am. It is wearing but it is getting better and I am sure we will know the right rate soon.

Some Photo's from Adelaide.

Tom and Christopher just after they had had their face painted. Tom is spider man and Christopher is a puppy dog.

I was trying to upload a couple of others but blogger keeps on having problem's so they will have to wait till later.

We are back.

It has been a very long week but it is looking like it was all worth it.

Most of the time pumps are meant to be reinserted after three days. This week Tom has had to have it re inserted every day because the tube has kinked inside and he wasn't getting enough insulin through. Today finally though he has had no kinks and has been able to keep the pump attached so hopefully it will last until Sunday.

We spent a lot of our time at the hospital on Monday, Tuesday and Wedneday. Yesterday we had a fun day out. We went to Adeliade city and visited Santa in the Magic Cave. Afterwards we walked through Rundle Mall and there was free face painting. Tom was painted as Spiderman and Christopher as a puppy dog. We went shopping and bought some toys. We also went and visited my sister. We had to be back at the hospital at 4pm to see the Diabetes Educator. I am still going to stay in close contact with the Endocrinoligist and Diabetes Educator. We may need to adjust the level of insulin going in through the pump and we need to go back in two weeks and six weeks to have checkups.

thanks for all the prayers. I will have some photo's to share later from our day in town.

Cash Advance Loans

Well that is a bit of a surprise.

H/T to Are We There Yet?

Leaving in the morning.

If there is any news that we need prayers for I am hoping that one of my older children will be able to update you all while I am away. I will be phoning home every day to let the family know what is happening.

If you could all please pray for my children especially. Last night after having a conversation with Brigette I realized that following what the church teaches in a secular world is a cross for our children as well.

Some photo's from Tom's last day at school.

Everything just about ready.

I have all the main meal's in the freezer for Steve, we have got all the equipement for Tom's pump and everything ready for homeschool. Only two days now till I leave. I am excited about going and getting the pump. I wish the whole family could come though. I am going to miss Steve and the other children a lot.

We are looking forward to catching up with family and friends and also doing some Christmas shopping.

Please pray that the pump works well and that we get through the week without any major drama's.

Thanks
Therese

I think these are really funny.

I found this on my desktop. I think that Sam must have got it from one of his friends online;

What NOT to do in an elevator
* When there's only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't you.
* Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.
* Ask if you can push the button for other people, but push the wrong ones.
* Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and ask if they know what floor your on.
* Hold the doors open and say your waiting for a friend. After a while, let the doors close, and say, "Hi Greg. How's your day been?"
* Drop a pen and wait until someone goes to pick it up, then scream, "That's mine!"
* Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.
* Move your desk into the elevator and whenever anyone gets on, ask if they have an apointment.
* Lay down the twister mat and ask people if they would like to play.
* Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.
* Stand really close to someone, sniffing them occasionally.
* When the doors close, announce to the others, "It's okay, don't panic, they open again!"
* Swat at flies that don't exist.
* Call out, "Group Hug!"and then enforce it.
* Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering, "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"
* Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
* Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce in horror, "Your one of THEM!" and back away slowly.
* Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers.
* Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
* Stare, grinning at another passenger for a while, then announce, "I have new socks on".
* Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passnegers, "This is MY personal space!"
* Put police tape in front of the door before entering.
* Hold an auction.
* Ask every passenger coming if you can borrow a tampon. Especially effective if victim is male. Even more effective if you yourself are male.
* Throw a rave.
* Place potted plants and water fountains at strategic locations in the lift. When people ask what you are doing, tell them you "won't ride an elevator that's not fung shwei."
* Greet everyone getting on with a warm handshake and ask them to call you "Admiral".
* Hum the first six notes of the "It's a small world" over and over again.
* When you brush past someone, whisper "Was it good for you too?"
* Have a heated debate with yourself.
* Bring a melon onto the elevator. Try to sell it to the other passengers. If they don't buy it smash it on the floor screaming, "You're ruining my career! Im going to get fired" then sulk in the corner and don't get off.
* Drum on every available surface.
* Write a big X on the elevator floor, and hand out "pirate" maps to everyone as they enter.
* Give psychotherapy to the other passengers.
* Greet everyone coming on as if they were your best friend. Use the same name for all of them.
* Say "ring ring," then pull a banana out of your pocket and start talking into it.
* Propose to the other passengers.
* Challenge people to duels.
* Sell girl scout cookies.
* Bring a large pile of ice. Build an igloo on the floor.
* Come on looking really scared, and say to another passenger..."I'm kinda nervous...this is my first time flying..."
* Any time someone enters the doors, recoil in horror.
* Pitch a tent on the floor, and "camp out" for the weekend.
* Play "I've got your nose" with the other passengers

Get your patron Saint for 2008.

Angela Messenger has very kindly offered to take over this work. Last year "moneybags" started the patron saint for a year and told over 400 people the saint that had chosen them for the year. I was chosen by St. Thomas.

If you would like a patron saint this year please

go here to Angela Messenger's blog.

I am a blogging mama.

Take the Mom Blogger quiz!

But I am sure you already knew that. I am addicted to blogging and if anything happened to it I would be very sad.

H/T to Esther for this quiz

We had a huge flood.

Yesterday we had a huge amount of rain. It was astounding the amount of rain that came down. Our street was flooded and the children all went out and ran around in the rain. The rain was needed so we are thankful for this huge rain. Steve took some video's but they are huge at the moment (50 mb) so we need to look and see if we can reduce the quality and put it up.

I have everything ready for Tom's homeschool. On Friday the children had a day of school because my friend Di left her middle child with us while she and Mark went to a funeral. Tom did some maths, reading, writing and I gave him a big spelling test to see what level he is at.

On Saturday he asked if he could do more maths so I got his book out and he did it for about 5 minutes and decided he wanted to play instead.

I have started cooking meals for while I am away. Last night I did pasties and 160 muffins. Today I will cook a few more meals to go in the freezer but the bulk of the cooking for Steve and the children will be done during the week. I have got a couple of great recipes from Esther's Kitchen and
Are We There Yet? From Esther's kitchen I am making the Mushroom Pasta and from Are We There Yet?, I am making the Beef and Cornbread Bake .

God bless
Therese

Blogging is taking a back seat for a while.

Last night Steve and I went to adoration. I realized while we were there that prayer has not being the priority it should be. When I first wrote my mother's rule I made sure I scheduled it around prayer. Over the months small things slip and it seems I am not spending enough time in prayer now like I use too.

So I will still be posting here. It won't be an everyday thing though and it will only be in the evenings or early mornings if I can drag myself out of bed. I need to spend more time praying, a bit of time writing up a new mothers rule, finish planning Tom's program and get meals in the freezer for Steve and the children while I am in Adelaide.

A link I want to share with you all.

Twisted Valley is a new blog I recently started reading.

The other day I was over there and she had linked to This post on Gimme Some of Your Tots.

I was so moved by this preteen's post that I wanted to link to it here.

In the words of her mother:

Please, leave her comments to encourage her budding talent.

Getting everything ready.

It is now less than two weeks till I take Tom to Adelaide and get his pump. I am looking forward to this. While we are in Adelaide I will start his homeschool programe.

This weekend I went to Linda's and Bill's place and got some resources for our homeschool.

The programmes I will be doing are:

Fitzroy reading

Essential spelling

Signpost Maths

Catch the sewing bug

I am also going to do some writing, science, cooking and teach the catechism. Steve is going to help me put together some work for this and maybe I will get a programme next year for them all.

For myself I got:

Design your own Classical Curriculum

I have had a flick through and it looks like there is a lot of good information in there.

Thanks to all the people that have given me many idea's and encouraged me in my efforts. I am really excited about starting this and spending more time with Tom. I am also looking forward to next year when I have him and Amelia at home.

I also want to thank Linda and Bill for their hospitality. It was great to finally meet. Your children were all very lovely and my children really enjoyed being with you. Brigette will be having a go at making the chocolate fudge sometime soon.

Wanting other people's approval.

I have come to realize that I want to have people's approval when I make decisions about my life and the way I live it.

I especially want the approval of my parents and siblings. When ever they don't approve or tell me to do something contrary to what I want to do I get frightened to do it.

I know that God has called me to do what he wants and to seek approval with him rather than others, but when I make a decision about our children that the family isn't going to approve of I get all twisted up in knots and frightened of telling them.

Have any others felt this way? Have you been able to overcome wanting people's approval? What have you done to overcome this?

Day light savings.

Starts tonight here. So all your Aussies, wind your clocks FORWARD one hour before you go to bed tonight.

I hate the first week of DLS but love it once we have adjusted to the time change. I really like going out for a walk with the children after evening jobs.

When do the American's/European people finish Day Light Savings?

Bumbo seats.

Karin has a post on Bumbo seats.

They are being recalled.

From Karin's blog:

Serious Head Injuries Prompt Recall of Bumbo Baby Sitter Seats -

New Warnings and Instructions to Be Provided To Consumers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Bumbo “Baby Sitter” Seats

Units: About 1 million

Manufacturer: Bumbo International, of South Africa

Hazard: If the seat is placed on a table, countertop, chair, or other elevated surface, young children can arch their backs, flip out of the Bumbo seat, and fall onto the floor, posing a risk of serious head injuries.

Now I just have to say here, this appears to me that the problem is not the seat but the way it is used.

What kind of idiot recalls a seat because someone has misused it. Isn't it obvious that these shouldn't be put on a table top?

Back to info from Karin:

Incidents/Injuries: CPSC has received 28 reports of young children falling out of the Bumbo Baby Sitter seat, including three skull fractures, which occurred when children fell out of chairs that had been placed on tables.

Description: The bottom of the children’s seat is round and flat with a diameter of about 15 inches. It is constructed of a single piece of molded foam and comes in yellow, blue, purple, pink, aqua, and lime green. The seat has leg holes and seat back that wraps completely around the child. On the front of the seat in raised lettering is the word “Bumbo” with the image of an elephant on top. The bottom of the seat has the following words: “Manufactured by Bumbo South Africa Material: Polyurethane World Patent No. PCT: ZA/1999/00030.” The back of the seat contains the following “WARNING” – “Never use on a raised surface. Never use as a car seat or bath seat. Designed for floor level use only. Never leave your baby unattended as the seat is not designed to be totally restrictive and may not prevent release of your baby in the event of vigorous movement.”

Sold by: Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, USA Babies and various other toy and children’s stores nationwide, and various online sellers, from August 2003 through October 2007 for about $40.

Manufactured in: South Africa

Remedy: Consumers should never use the infant seat on a table, countertop, chair, or other elevated surface. Consumers can contact Bumbo to obtain new warning label stickers and instructions, free of charge. The new warning label will state: “WARNING – Prevent Falls; Never use on any elevated surface.” Consumers should use the Bumbo seat at ground level, but should never leave a child unattended.

Consumer Contact: Contact Bumbo International at (877) 932-8626 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s Web site at www.bumbosafety.com

Blithering idiots. :roll eyes:

Happy Birthday Sam.

14 years ago I gave birth to our second child. Another Son who we called Sam.

Sam was born 4 weeks prem but was a nice healthy 2.9 kg. That is 6 pounds 6 oz for you non metric people. He was a champion feeder and we really couldn't tell that he was prem at all.

I hope you have a great day Sam and thank God for the blessing that you are to our family.

Maybe we will give him a hair cut for his birthday lol.

Sister Mary Matha made me laugh out loud tonight.

Go and read sisters post Hot Topic

Look at the nuns in the Rose coloured habits. I laughed out loud when I saw the picture of them.

I think if I was ever a nun I would love to wear a habit like that.

In fun
Therese

size zero madness.

Today over at Big is Beautiful Marie has posted some links to the you tube video, The Truth about size zero.

There are a total of six parts for the whole show. It shows a women, Louise Redknapp and what she goes through to get down from a size 8 to size 4 (size 0 in the States).

These video's show how unhealthy crash dieting is. It really is a must see for every women.

Adversity and hatred.

In my post about socialization a poster has bought up one of the main concerns I have.

The post:

Well, we homeschool and are currently wrestling with this question also. First, I think "socialization" is best done in the family, but as our kids age I am increasingly recognizing another aspect of socialization. Before becoming an adult, we have to learn how to deal with adversity and with different opinions, even hatred towards us and our religion. Now that our oldest has a pretty solid foundation, I am wondering if the next step would be to send him to institutional high school so that he can develop practical skills in dealing with this type of adversity/diversity while he still has daily contact with his parents.We have made no decisions yet, but a big part of me wonders if this would be preferable to having his first major dose of "the world" when he is an adult living far away at college or now. He would have a better foundation if we waited, but less contact with his support system.

Since it is quite a few days since I did the post I decided to bring this comment here and see what others think.

As stated yesterday Madeline has changed school's. The main reason we changed schools was because she was so unhappy and her self esteem was getting a huge beating from exclusion and bullying. The reason we changed schools is because she wasn't learning any skills from it, she was just becoming an unhappy person. In my opinion she was starting to hate the person she was and wanted to be someone different. I am pretty sure that her unhappiness stemmed from this and nothing else.

Now Madeline is only 12. Maybe things would have been very different if she had come up against the adversity when she was older. Maybe if she had been homeschooled up until now she wouldn't have been so affected by it.

In truth do we ever learn to cope with diversity or hatred? What are your thoughts on this?