Coucoumellisms

This photography studio that does pics of babies at home called and offered to take pics of Nicolas and were giving us one free, no obligation to buy. I really hate that and usually would say no, because I know I'd feel pressured into buying at least some of the pictures and that they would be expensive. Well, more expensive than ordinary photos anyway. So the guy came today with the pics to view and of course was selling them either individually or in three packages. The least expensive was $125 and included all the photos (13 5x7's) plus the negatives. The idea that the negatives came with it interested me, since then I could just go and get more photos, but honestly, I really didn't need all those pictures of the same child on the same day. I could have had the two nicest plus the one free one for $40 and I think that would have been enough. Maybe I should have gone with that. But I bought the $125 package which ended up being almost $150 with the taxes. Now I feel reall...

Article on Jonathan Cheechoo, breaking records I did not know Victor Linklator was Jonathan's uncle. Is there no end of people in Moose Factory that Victor is related to? :) It seems that he is related to everyone, ha ha. Big family.

March 30th is Maryssa's birthday, and I am now in the middle of making yet another pinata, a horse this time. You can see other pinatas that I have made here and here . And here is the last one I made, (for Gabriel in October) which is not on the list: When I started making pinatas for birthdays, I only had two children. Now I have five. And two of them have birthdays about a month apart, and the other three are also spaced out about a month. Which means that at least twice in a year, there is a pinata/birthday party rush, no sooner is one done than the next one is to be started... Well, I can't say I've had the three in a row rush yet, since Nicolas was just born, and I probably won't make him a pinata this year either, he's too young (and I'm too tired/lazy), but two in a row is work, and I've got 5 kids to take care of while I try to plan these things. So it's one of those things, that once I've started it, I love it, but it takes so much energy ...

When we first moved here from Prince George, the poor boys had to sleep outside, there was so much stuff in the place that was to be their room. (I say poor boys, but they probably thought it was fun.) Eventually, we unpacked anough stuff (I unpacked enough stuff) so that they could actually get to their bed and sleep in it. Since then, stuff has been slowly leaving their room and been put elsewhere. (A lot of it is now in boxes on Marc's side of the room, waiting for him to deal with it... among others, some still unopened mail from over 10 years ago!!!) Now, there is nothing in their room that isn't theirs... well except for all the tools and paint and wood scraps and... you get the picture, not much of a room yet, but the walls are up, the electricity is done, and all that is needed are a few more touchups of plaster, a coat of primer and some paint. Oh, and curtains and all the rest of the decoration stuff. I have to congratulate Marc for a great job. He had to tear down th...

Check out my Yahoo! avatar on the right there, she's all dressed in black for repentance and purple for Lent... (Just thought I'd point that out, since it's probably not obvious.) If they could do a Church background, that would be awesome, or some kind of praying position, but that's probably not "politically correct." It makes me feel just slightly better to see that the Jews get equal treatment in that, no synagogues in sight, not even in the Kwanzaa or Hanukkah sections.

Me: (in disapproving voice) "Gabriel! Did you do caca in your pants again?" Gabriel: "No." Me: "Then how come I'm smelling caca?" Gabriel: "Your nose not good."

We are going to be celebrating Saint Patrick's Day today. (I'll make a little exception to the normal Lenten fast... but we'll still try to have a meat-less Friday, I say try because at school, they probably get meat in the hot meals... here at home it'll be meat-less) Sunday in Montreal there will be a Saint Patrick's Day Parade... Might be nice to go see that. Cecil and Jane will be in Montreal on the weekend too.

TO COUNT, OR NOT TO COUNT? (CALORIES) This was me, in April of 2000, about a month after my third child was born. I lost about five pounds the next month, and then nothing. I started running that summer, and only managed to lose about 5 more pounds. I hadn't, as yet, made a change in my eating habits. My husband bought me a book on the Montignac method of losing weight. Which I read over half-way through (and have yet to finish, maybe some day?). But that gave me the boost I needed to start changing my eating habits. There are myths going around about fat people and diets and losing weight. MYTH NUMBER ONE FAT PEOPLE EAT TOO MUCH, THAT IS WHY THEY ARE FAT. Let's bust that one right away. Fat people do not eat more than regular people, in fact, quite often they eat LESS than regular people. It is not how MUCH you eat that matters. It is WHAT you eat that matters. MYTH NUMBER TWO BEING FAT IS HEREDITARY Fat people have fat kids, my parents are over-weight, that is why I am ov...

Unbelief and Bad Belief Vatican Document Weighs How to Evangelize Culture VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2006 ( Zenit.org ).- Indifference or hostility to religion is a well-established phenomenon in many Western countries. (My note: No kidding! Really? I hadn't noticed.) Recent events such as the Mohammed cartoon controversy point to the serious consequences that follow when secular society is unable to appreciate religious sensibilities, giving rise to needless offense . (And when it is someone you supposedly love, the religious insensibility seems to double... it's all part of the be nice and polite to strangers but take it out on friends and family, they can take it after all, regime. Kind of like in that e-mail that circulates about how if we accidently bump into a stranger on the street, both parties apologize profusely, but if it happens at home, we get mad...) In this context a document made available a short while ago on the Vatican's Web site merits a closer ...

Modern Aftermath of the Crusades Robert Spencer on the Battles Still Being Waged WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 11, 2006 ( Zenit.org ).- The Crusades may be causing more devastation today than they ever did in the three centuries when most of them were fought, according to one expert. Robert Spencer, author of "Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)" ( Regnery ), claims that the damage is not in terms of lives lost and property destroyed but is a more subtle destruction. Spencer shared with ZENIT how false ideas about the Crusades are being used by extremists to foment hostility to the West today. Q: The Crusades are often portrayed as a militarily offensive venture. Were they? Spencer: No. Pope Urban II, who called for the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in 1095, was calling for a defensive action -- one that was long overdue. As he explained, he was calling the Crusade because without any defensive action, "the faithful of God will be muc...

Today we are going to a Cabane à Sucre . It's sugaring-off time again!!! Spring is definitely in the air... it's been raining a lot recently and most of the snow is now gone. The pond, which just last week was frozen, now has a lot of water on top of what is left of the ice. We are going to the maple hut Au Pain de Sucre , here in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, with Les Relevailles, a breast-feeding support group for Saint-Jean, which I just recently joined. Sugaring-off season is always a sure sign of spring. Especially in this part of the province. By April, the snow will be completely gone and the tulips will probably already be coming out.

Nicolas just turned three months yesterday. He giggles now and he coos. He is especially happy in the mornings. He sleeps well at night too. He only gets up once usually, at around 4:00 or so.

I was reading in the paper the other day, an article on feminism (actually it was a whole segment of the paper, with nothing but articles on that subject). It was divied into views from different women, from the most radical to the most conservative. (The most conservative being a woman who had given up her career to be a stay-at-home mom). The most radical woman thought most women were just uneducated or unaware about the issues. For instance, those who parade around in minis and tight clothing, they're just unaware that you don't have to be a piece of meat, that you don't have to dress to seduce. I have to agree on that. (That you don't have to dress like a piece of meat.) But she also thought that those who chose to stay at home were just not thinking straight either. Noone should have to be dependant on another for their source of income according to her. Those that choose to do so are simply not choosing with enlightened minds. Well, I hate to break it to ...

Earlier today the children were playing "Simon Says". Just now, Gabriel (3 years) came to me, asking to go to bed. (Yes! I actually have a child who asks to go to bed!) When I wasn't moving right away to put him to bed, (I wanted to finish reading an article first), and after having asked a couple of times already, Gabriel finally stared me in the eyes and with the voice of one who has authority he said: "Simon says 'You go put me bed!'"

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Saint John Bosco. When I was little his story was one of my favourite stories of lives of the saints. When I went to Paraguay in 1993 with Agapê-Mission, I just happened to opt for volunteering with a home for street kids, run by (who else but) Salesians. That kind of did it for me. That's when he really began to stand out among other saints in my mind. Not that he was better than them, just that his life seemed to speak more to me as a person than some of the others. I felt that he could have been a friend. The more I read up on him, the more I found him interesting. (And I haven't even done much reading up on him in past years, I think it is high time I did some more reading.) My oldest son is named for him. I just received the Mothering with Grace E-zine (for which you can sign up here .) And in it was a link to something written by Saint John Bosco on gentle parenting. (Non-violent). I have to say, that soft spot in my heart has...

Yesterday was Mardi Gras, and the kids all made "carnival" masks, we had pancakes and I made horribly sweet cupcakes and filled them with whatever I could find, raisins, butterscotch chips, liqueur de cassis, etc... they were sinful... and it would have been really difficult to eat more than one of them... I think we are ready for Lent now. Am going to hang up my homemade stations of the cross, and I am hoping to get to an Ash Wednesday service today. Now I have to get off the computer. I'm going to try spending my time on more useful things, like ironing my husband's shirts. (There is a mountain of them in Gabriel's room right now...)