55 Million People

Fifty-five million people woke up this morning disappointed. My guy won the two elections I've been old enough to vote in, so it's a new feeling for me. I watched both McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech last night and felt incredibly jealous. Jealous that I wasn't among the millions of people rejoicing last night. Anyone who has talked to me about this election knows I've held hope the entire time that McCain would win. After all, the past two elections the mainstream media has predicted a Democrat win, and yet the Republicans pulled it off both times. Part of me just didn't want to admit that our country has become as liberal as it has. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that I find myself in the minority once again. As a Catholic it seems we take a beating more times than not. I'm well aware the beliefs my faith holds are very rarely the popular ones. I have to say I was a bit alarmed yesterday at how exuberant the crowd was in Grant Park. Jeff and I joked that the camera kept going back to the same two elderly people in the crowd - as if they were the only ones of that demographic that CNN could find. So many young people, weeping and hugging and rejoicing! I am proud that so many people of my generation love their country, want the best for it, and are willing to fight for it. And I am glad so many citizens want to grasp onto something bigger than themselves and believe in it. But I am deeply worried that their hope is misplaced. I am convinced this hope is more appropriately placed in God. Much of what President-elect Obama believes in is contrary to the teachings Christians believe come from God. And even if you set aside all the moral and religious issues and focus on the "secular" ones, such as the economic, foreign, and healthcare policies Obama has been touting, I am still worried for our country and how we can remain true to the foundations it was built on. I am concerned we are going to go in a completely new direction that is unfaithful to what America has always been about - freedom. Freedom to work hard and keep what you earn. Freedom to live without excessive tax and burden from the government. Freedom to practice your beliefs without the government infringing on them. Freedom to give money charitably the way you want to give it. Don't get me wrong, I understand certain things need reform and change, but I don't think an entire overhaul of everything is necessary either. I hope I'm wrong on these secular issues, and that 55 million of us are wrong, and that Obama knows what he is doing. I hope this because last night CNN was already reporting how quickly he plans on moving. There is not much doubt in my mind that he sincerely believes the policies he's laid forth, and intends to fight hard to see it all through. With a democratic- heavy Senate he doesn't have much in his way. I'm disappointed, but I'm trying not to feel devastated. I am placing my hope in God. I am praying for His will. I am praying for Obama. I am praying for our country. And I'm continuing to fight for what I believe in. God, please bless the USA.

Elmo For President

Just now as I sat down to flip on CNN and check the results that are in so far, Nathaniel runs into the room demanding "Watch Elmo, watch Elmo!" This is the scene whenever I try to turn the television to anything I want to see. As I was quickly scanning the TV trying to make sense of the red and blue blocks on the screen, I asked him, "You don't want to watch and see who is the next president of our country? Without a pause he said, "No, I want to watch Elmo!"

Good thing I have the internet, and Nathaniel hasn't yet discovered the world of computer games!

Church Giggles

Today at the 5:00pm Mass it was hard not to giggle as we walked back to our seats in the Communion line. Nathaniel was in Daddy's arms and generally when we approach the Blessed Sacrament he is quiet and still in a state of wonder at being up in front of Church. Jeff performed his usual attempt-to-pin-the-toddler's-arms-down-so-he-won't-grab-at-and-spill-the-hosts-all-over-the-floor move but Nathaniel wrested his arm free and held it out to the Eucharistic Minister, saying loudly, "Have some?" And then during the long walk back to our seats the entire congregation was treated to him demanding, "I want to have some! I want to have some!" The two of them were following Mary and me and at one point I could very clearly hear Jeff whisper behind me, "You can have some goldfish crackers as soon as we get back to the pew."

Someone please help me remember to tell this story at Nathaniel's First Holy Communion.

Oh, and I can't forget the giggling from the family just behind us at Nathaniel calling our pew the "puke". Never ever a dull moment at Mass with a toddler! I much prefer the giggling moments to the embarassing toddler running in the aisles moments!

Happy DSD!

If you don't know what DSD stands for, this post is for you! Today is Digital Scrapbooking Day, and since digi scrapping is my latest addiction *ahem* hobby, I thought it appropriate to blog a bit about it. I have been paper scrapbooking since summer of 1996 when I sat down and put my high school pictures and scraps into an album. Since then I've created over fifteen paper scrapbooking albums about me and my family. I love documenting my memories and being creative in the process, but it takes so much time and money that I was falling very far behind with our family albums. Once Nathaniel was born I was taking literally about a thousand pictures a month, and feeling very overwhelmed with actually scrapbooking them. I ended up completing a birth through 1 year album for Nathaniel, but other than that I did no scrapbooking for myself for two years. Shortly after Mary was born I started looking more and more into digital scrapbooking and just a few months later I have almost 100 layouts completed!

Digital Scrapbooking is super easy, can be very inexpensive, and FUN. Any free time I have these days is devoted to creating layouts. I can make one or two layouts a day during naptimes and after Nathaniel and Mary go to bed, whereas before it would take me just as long to pull out my supplies, figure out what pictures I had printed, and design a page. Then the next day, if I was still feeling motivated, I would actually sit down to put things together onto a page. Maybe another day would pass before I was even finished with one paper layout!

Paper scrapbooking can be pretty expensive. Digital scrapbooking can be absolutely free (as long as you already have a photo editing program) except for the cost of printing pages and buying an album. However, this pretty much equals the cost of buying a photo album and having regular pictures printed! There are a lot of designers out there, people just like me, who just love to digi scrap and want to try their hand at making papers and elements. Someday I may try to design my own things but for now I'm happy preserving my memories and getting caught up with my pictures. The designers out there, when they are getting started, put together kits of coordinating papers, frames, and other embellishments such as ribbon or flowers, and post them for free for people to use and try out. Designers typically get a following of people, and then apply at a store online to be accepted to create for profit. So if you know where to look, you can find lots of great kits and things to use for pages and not spend one cent!

If you want to learn more, I have a couple of links for you:

What Is Digital Scrapbooking?
Digital Scrapbooking 101

Here are two great resources for freebie kits:

http://www.shabbyprincess.com/ (click on "downloads")
http://www.ikeagoddess.blogspot.com/ (this blogger scours the internet every day for new freebies!)

Here are a few of my favorite pages:

And finally, today two of my layouts were featured on an up and coming digital scrapbooking designer's new blog! Check it out! I made these layouts from her freebie you can download and play around with in any photo editing program that does layers (Photoshop, Print Shop Pro, PhotoImpact). If any of you decide to try it out, let me know! I love to talk about digi scrapping with anyone (and everyone!)

Happy Halloween!

A Girl And Her Mouse

(This one's for Becky!)

Mommy's got that camera thingy again...

I'll give her a little smile to make her happy...

OK that should do it. Wait, why are you taking my hoodie off? It's cold today. All you're gonna get now is a picture of me looking grumpy and cold.

Uh oh... here comes that Nathaniel kid and he's got a funny gleam in his eye.

OUCH! Why are you tugging at me?! Mommy, stop taking pictures and help!

Oh, hello little friend. Where did you come from?

Answer Key!

Here are the answers to yesterday's Pop Quiz!

1. Nathaniel
2. Mary
3. Nathaniel
4. Nathaniel (I think this one REALLY looks like Mary!)
5. Nathaniel
6. Mary
7. Mary
8. Mary
9. Nathaniel
10. Mary
11. Nathaniel
EC: Mary

Congratulations to Kim and Chris - bonus points to Chris for his observational skills because he has never even met Mary!! Nathaniel INSISTS these are all Mary, so the rest of you can all be proud of at least getting more correct than a two-year-old. :)

Before You Carve Your Pumpkins

Practice here first!

Here's my unoriginal attempt:

Pop Quiz

Take my quiz and post your answers in a comment. I'll reveal the correct answers tomorrow!

Mary or Nathaniel?

1.

2.3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Extra Credit:

Tell Me Again

"Tell me again why this is fun, Mary?"

A Good Point

I promise not to begin incessantly pointing you to my favorite blogs but as a follow-up to my Politics post, this article has a really good (and pretty scary!) point.

Joy In My Rearview Mirror

This morning on our way home from an errand I pulled the car over a few blocks from home so Nathaniel would see a mail truck pass us. A few months ago he was on a big motorcycle kick, and I coasted a little in the slow lane so one would zoom around us and Nathaniel could catch a glimpse. Once we were crossing a busy street and he started frantically pointing and waving at a motorcyclist. There's nothing more amusing than watching a tough looking biker dude break out into a smile and wave at a two year old. While driving I routinely point out construction equipment on the side of the road, and excitedly call out, "Tanker truck ahead! Look at that flat bed rig over there!" Let me tell you, six months ago I knew none of the proper names for any vehicles bigger than my SUV, and now I feel like a truck encyclopedia. With a toddler you really do learn something new every day. Today as the boxy white and blue USPS truck sped by I wondered: Is there any greater feeling than seeing a look of pure joy on your child's face?

Breaking News

Nathaniel just said "yes, please" without me prompting him first. It's the little victories in life, I tell you!

On Politics

I have to admit that I've been too nervous to blog about politics up until now. It's a little intimidating writing about something I don't feel totally knowledgeable about. I fully admit that this election is the first that I've had the opportunity to pay close attention to what's happening. Four years ago I was in grad school, and eight years ago I was planning a wedding. Don't get me wrong, both times I made an educated decision in terms of my vote... but I just didn't have the time to get into the nitty gritty details on the different economic policies and foreign affairs. I don't feel too confident in my ability to speak very eloquently on the topic now, but I don't want to completely ignore such an important issue. It's really been on my mind and in my prayers a lot the past few months. Jeff and I have had some wonderful discussions and my stance on certain issues has been strengthened.

If you're interested in my perspective on which candidate I think we should all be voting for, read this. And then read this.

And for anyone who would like, please join with my household in praying a novena prayer for the election. A novena is a special nine day prayer for a specific intention. Praying for nine days in preparation for something is a tradition the Church holds because of the nine days the apostles spent in prayer before receiving the Holy Spirit. This prayer was written by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, and it can be started at any time, but October 27 would be the last time you can begin in order to complete it before the election is over.

St. Thomas More, patron of politicians, pray for us!

"Pickeen Punkins"

Jeff and I always look forward to our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. When we bought our house five years ago we received a flyer in the mail shortly after moving from the realty company we used. It said we could pick out two free pumpkins at a farm a little north of us. We were so excited, we drove up almost immediately to check out the patch. We were happily surprised our second year in our house to receive the flyer again. And again the next year! Five years later, we still have a small celebration in our house when we receive that flyer in the mail at the end of September. Oh the little joys in life!

This year was especially fun because Nathaniel was so excited about "pickeen punkins" as he calls it. We let him pick out two little ones for him and Mary to paint later. Jeff and I picked out our two big free ones for carving. Here are some pictures from our fun day!

Feeding the chickens!

First Pair Of Overalls

Spoiled Rotten

I've had to take a small haitus from the blogging world because of two reasons: 1) Last Tuesday the computer decided it didn't want to turn on anymore and 2) My mom was visiting from Chicago all last week. Normally not having access to a computer would either have me in a panic or in a really bad mood (or both!), but neither happened because we were all too busy being spoiled rotten by Grandma! Nathaniel is just now coming down from his week-long high of having a constant car racer, puzzle player, cookie baker, walk taker, Cozy Coupe zoomer, book reader, and Little People player by his side. I was able to sleep in a couple of days with Mary while Grandma played with Nathaniel. And with the free afternoon babysitting service my Mom provided, I went shopping ALL BY MYSELF during the kids' naps. I had forgotten how quickly errands go when I only have myself to buckle in and out of the car!

Jeff fixed the computer issue so I am happy to be able post some pictures from last week!

Grandma Sandy & Mary:

The cookie bakers:

What's Your Favorite Color?

My friend Becky blogged today that she just discovered her favorite color. Mine has been the same for awhile: blue. When I was a kid it was purple, and then it was red for tiny bit. I finally settled on blue sometime in college. When Jeff and I were engaged, I read about the Catholic tradition of having a Marian wedding, and because this meant dedicating our big day to the Blessed Mother and using my favorite color blue, that's what we decided to do. At the time "periwinkle" was all the rage, and I actually had some difficulty finding a good light blue shade for the bridesmaids. Here's what having the color blue for a favorite says about my personality, according to the author of "The Healing Power of Color":

"Soft, soothing, compassionate and caring, Blue is the color of deliberation and introspection, conservatism and duty. Patient, persevering, conscientious, sensitive and self-controlled, Blues like to be admired for their steady character and wisdom. They are faithful, but are often worriers with somewhat inflexible beliefs and can be too cautious, and suspicious of flamboyant behavior."

I seriously couldn't think up a better description of me! Well, the patience and self-control is a work in progress, of course. :)

Go here to check out what your favorite color says about you!

This is Getting a Bit Ridiculous...

So Nathaniel keeps asking to bring more and more things into his crib, and he gets mad if they are taken out. Out of fear of disrupting the beautiful sleeping arrangement we have with him right now (we read him a book, tuck him in and walk out of the room with no issues) we have let him amass quite the crib collection. But today it occurred to me that it's quite possible we will have to move him to a big boy bed merely because he is running out of room in his crib!

The list of important nigh nigh items are as follows, in no particular order:

• 4 stuffed animals
• blankie
• pillow
• emergency sippy cup with water
• Mail truck
• Fire engine
• Goodnight Moon book

Maybe he's waiting until he has enough things to pile up on top of one another to make his big escape!

Happy Birthday, Papa Bob!

Have a great day today!