7QT Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita

1.

Today is St. Josephine Bakhita's Feast Day!  She is the patron saint of Baby J.  Speaking of Baby J, I'm starting to call her Jill on this here blog.  As in Jill Pole, also of Narnia fame.  She's the star of The Silver Chair.  Should she have been a boy, we'd be calling her Eustace, who remains one of my all-time favorite Narnia characters.

I've been asked, twice or thrice, if I really named my kids after the Narnia kids, and the answer is no.  I just don't want college admissions counselors googling Peter's real name and reading my post about how he got busted for smoking a cigar on the March for Life, or how after he broke his arm the inside of his cast smelled like cologne and butt.  I'm making a gesture to protect their privacy.

2.  Today is also Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthday!

How I love Laura.  She gave me my phobia of mice, my love of ham, her sister Mary's belief that blondes are loved more than brunettes, and my love of children's literature.

We had a fabulous trip to her Rocky Ridge home in Mansfield, Missouri a few years ago.  You should totally go to there someday.  I thought I blogged about our trip once upon a time, but I cannot find it.  Upcoming post idea!  Spoiler alert:  Almanzo had several older and younger sibs who were never even mentioned in Farmer Boy!  Some of whom were already married and had children of their own.

3.  Etsy Catholic

Have you liked them on Facebook yet?  Catholic artists making Catholic art.  You can find some beautiful stuff there, like my mom's friend's shop of handmade Holy Communion dresses, personalized Christening blankets, and more.  Embroidered Heirlooms.  Gorgeous stuff.

4.  My favorite app for iPhone.

Spelling is especially difficult for my dyslexic student.  Time for studying when the tutoring is over and the homework is done is hard to find.  I did a search for an iPhone app and I found A+ Spelling.

Anyone can enter the words and record them, then Edmund can study in the car or anywhere.  There are some different kinds of activities like Unscramble and Ace It and Practice Tests.  Extra bonus:  if he forgets to bring home the words to study the night before the test, I've already got them in my phone.

The recording of the words is the fun part in our opinion.  I used to do it, clearly enunciating the syllables etc.  Then I started letting Edmund record the words himself.  Next thing I knew, he was using goofy voices and accents.  Now, Jill can say some of those words, so she lisps some of the list for us, like "berries"  or "dresses."

5.  I lied.  This is my favorite app for iPhone.

With the RunPee app, I know exactly when to use the restroom at the movie theater.  The app tells you when the lamest parts of the movie are, how long they are, and what you miss while you're gone.

I've used this app for years.  Also, the app gives great cues about when to leave.  For instance, during Les Miserables, the app told me to watch for the scene where Marius asks Eponine to find Cosette for him, then he goes to the cafe and meets with the revolutionaries.  I had five minutes and I was going to miss the Red and Black song which is reprised several more times so no biggie.  When I got up at the point in the movie, it was interesting to see how many other movie goers were using the same app.  Total:  one, which  is fine by me, because I don't want to wait in line during my RunPee break.

6.   A Flu Take, skip if you're squeamish.

I should never have mocked the Puke Fates on Sunday.  I set myself up big time by stocking up on clear gatorade, saltines, and Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup.  I even prepped my stomach by only eating ice cream on Wednesday.  But I was a day too soon.

Wednesday night, starved for nutrition I made Baked Kale Chips, which I've had before and love(d).
My love affair with Baked Kale Chips has come to a tragic ending.

Everyone has been hit except one.  I'm praying that the girl who just got her braces off, the girl who missed her appointment to get her retainer yesterday because there was a blizzard, the girl who has to be at the orthodontist at 9am tomorrow, the girl who is taking a boy to the Turnabout Dance tomorrow night, either gets sick right now!  Or waits until Sunday.  St. Josephine Bakhita, pray for us.

7.  Cari over at Clan Donaldson keeps inspiring me to do things I never thought I could do.
Let's start with her Virtual 5K last August.  I don't do running, but I did sign up for that Boot Camp class and have been going twice a week for six months.  You might not think that's a big deal, but I have never been physically active, due to Exercised Induced Asthma, Exercise Induced Hunger, Exercise Induced Fatigue and Chronic Clutz Syndrome.  But now, you should see my shoulder definition!

And now Cari's doing these Theme Thursday photography link ups.  As you can tell, I don't do a lot of photography.  I prefer downloaded internet pics which is probably illegal.

I'm still growing into my "big girl camera."  But I started doing the link-ups and writing my step-by-step foibles, and then she done gone and made one of her quick takes about me, so tit for tat.  Or an eye for an eye.  She's forcing me out of my comfort zone again with this photography stuff.

Next thing you know, she'll have me making my own pizza, or memes, or who knows what could happen next on this train of glee and terror, but mostly glee.

* I am not watching that video she put in her quick takes.  I learned my lesson yesterday when I looked up Downton Abbey spoilers.  Just say No.

Go See Jen for more, and better.