7 Takes that are not Quick. Who are we kidding? They never are.

1.  Edmund has a blood circle.

In Boy Scouts, in order to safely use a blade, you extend your arm while holding the knife handle outward and turn in a circle.  That is your blood circle and no one should be in it while you are using a knife, saw, or axe.

Blood Circle sounds way cooler than Circle of Safety or Danger Zone or Safety Range.

Speaking of axes, I need to go to the Coinstar to cash in the last $13 Edmund gave me in change to pay for his very own Estwing E24A Sportsman's Hatchet .

Once upon a time, when Edmund was four or five, he ran in the back door and started opening all the cabinets searching furiously for something.  "Hey Mom, where do we keep the axes?"

You've come a long way, baby.

2.  Susan is getting her mane trimmed.  It's been far too long.  It is far too long.  It touches her plate at dinner, and that is just gross.

This is from last year.  I swear she has twice as much hair now.

I told her to google "haircuts for thick straight hair."

She said, "These haircuts are all for men!"  Sheesh.

3.  It's no secret that St. Jude has been all up in our business this past year, in a good way, and I'd like him to keep on keeping on.  But Jude is not on my list of Baby First Names (though it is on Patrick's list), and neither is his alias, Thaddeus.

Imagine:  Thad Thornton

Yeah, no.

Patrick said, "It would be tho thad."

That "tho thad" comment made me laugh hysterically, and is one of the many reasons I married this guy.

Gabriella has been vetoed by Patrick for 18 years and counting, "Because that's a beach volleyball player name."  Whatever that means.

If I could change one thing about myself, I would like to be Italian so I could have great skin, let go of anger easily, and use names like Gabriella legitimately.  Then, I might be a better singer and love cooking too!

4.  These are our baby name rules:

• We prefer new names.  I have over 100 FIRST cousins, and Patrick has a lot, like 60 or 70 or something.  (When people tell me they come from a big family, I try very hard not to roll my eyes.)  It's difficult, but we try to use new names.  

• The baby's name must include some terrifically awesome saint(s).  We've used St. Francis, St. Michael, St. Monica, St. Owen (besides meaning John, Owen was a saint and his best friend, St. Hubert, got canonized too), St. Catherine of Siena, St. Kevin, St. Therese of Lisieux, Our Lady, St. Rose of Lima, and St. Josephine Bakhita.  These are just of my cadre of faves, including St. Jude, so I can link this up with California to Korea's Three Reasons, right?  

Oh dear.  I missed Micaela's link-up window.  Tho thad.

• We never recycle.  Well, almost never.  For each child, we've picked a girl's name and boy's name, we use one, and the other one becomes "the name we would have named you if you were a girl/boy."  The names we didn't end up using were: Mary Grace, Maximilian , Daniel Patrick, and Austin.  So we've recycled one.  There is a growing contingent of people in this house who want to recycle Austin too.

• We don't abbreviate.  I'm Jessica, he's Patrick.  We use full names.  Though I would make an exception for a Bobby.  Or a Danny.  Bobby and Danny are such great names even on old guys.  Especially on old guys. 

•  The name has to sound good with Thornton.

5.  You might think Thornton is an easy name.  Aside from that sneaky middle "n" that gets omitted by careless nitwits, it's a classy name.  But not every first name goes with Thornton.

No relation.  No free gas for us.

Take Philip for instance.  Love the name, love the saint.

But Phil Thornton?  Say that five times fast.  If you're not hearing Phil Phornton, you're definitely thinking about my son, "Filth Ornton."

Ruth is also off-limits.  And I dearly, dearly love the name Ruth.  Love Bible Ruth, love my Grandma Ruth, but I just can't name a baby Ruth Thornton.  I just, I can't.

The same goes for the name Elizabeth.  Every time I say Elizabeth Thornton, I think of Slyvester the Cat spluttering all over the place.



I also do weird stuff like visualize potential baby names on a major league baseball card and fancy letterhead, because I have ridiculously high expectations.

This Matt Thornton is no relation, but the name Matthew has been taken.

As of this time, we have decided on 25% of the names needed for Thornton 6.0.  Every night, I suggest names and Patrick vetoes them.  It's a lot like the fairy tale, Rumplestiltskin.

He has a horrible memory though, so I rotate the ones I really like in my suggestions on a regular basis. Soon, he'll present one of my names as his own suggestion and voila! That's how I get it done.

Playing along with Team Whitaker's Baby Name link-up.

6.  Are you celebrating Fat Week yet?

I made a Tunnel of Fudge cake this week.  Someone asked me what was the occasion. I thought about it, and the fact that I wanted to use my new pretty Bundt pan wasn't good enough.  So I declared Fat Week!

Tell you what, making the Tunnel of Fudge cake from Cook's Country is a Labor of Love.  All that mess is for one cake.

All that mess, minus this:

This was just for me.

The recipe made far too much frosting, but nobody complained.

Oops.  After linking to the recipe, I think I may have doubled the amount of chocolate chips (I didn't have enough bittersweet chocolate) in the glaze.  Oh well.  That makes up for the fact that I had half as many pecans as the recipe called for.

Mmmmm...fudgy!

Throwing this out for Bobbi's Pinterest Party!

7.  

Let's count 'em up:  Jen's 7 Quick Takes, Jen's 7 Posts in 7 Days, , Kathryn's Baby Name Link-Up, also Micaela's Three Reasons (which I totally cheated on and did not actually link up to), and  Bobbi's Pinterest Party.

7QT Easter Meat Friday and 3 Reasons

1.

11:57 p.m. on Holy Thursday. I was eating an emergency bacon snack in preparation for Good Friday.  I was in good company too.  My in laws, Hope and Brady, were ever the gracious hosts with bacon and beds and mojitos on demand.

2.  Hope and Brady also introduced us to this family and now I have been re-educated about "red-neckedness."  I thought it was a pejorative, but turns out it's a right virtuous quality as opposed to the inverse which is "yuppiness."

3.   Looking for an easy source for booklists by grade level?  Check out the Battle of the Books website.  Our school is hosting it's 3rd annual battle.  My team the Reading Ninjas won the whole durn thing last year.  We are training like mad for a repeat.

Last year's winning team!

This year, my team is the Book Whales.  Any creative types out there want to send me a logo I can print on iron-on transfer paper for the t-shirts?  Like a killer whale leaping out of some waves, but the waves are actually open books with pages fanning?  I would love you forever and maybe give you the family's super secret sugar cookie recipe from Great Aunt Sister (yes, she was a religious) Christella.  It's pretty much my most treasured item of worth.

4.  For my next three four quick takes I am sharing Three Four Reasons I Love Catholicism.  Joining Micaela, my virtual friend who lives in South Korea for this link-up:

1.

Confession.  It's like a Delta Sonic Superkiss for the Soul.  I love that I can go anytime, any place, to any priest.  I have confessed my sins in cars, in living room, and on front porches.  I choose face-to-face most of the time, because I like to do things the hard (embarrassing) way.  For me, face-to-face is tougher, yet more real.  More like me and Jesus.

2.

Universality.  I have traveled to many countries in my lifetime and gone to Mass in nearly every one.  From Honduras to Holland, Canada to the Czech Republic, Nevis to Nice, it's always the same Mass, same sacrifice, same Jesus.

3.

Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa 

Saints.  Saints are like superheroes who walk/walked the earth.  Or floated above it St. Teresa of Avila style.  Stigmatas (St. Pio), visionaries (St. Marguerite Marie Alacocque), and every day quiet people who were heroic in the little things St. Therese the Little Flower style (such as her parents Blessed Zelie and Louis Martin) are my celebrities.  Every nation, every moment in history, every race has it's own saints.  I love them all.  I named my kids after them.  I even named my dog after one.

4.  And that's my three things but bonus!.  Can I add the artwork?  Look at that above!  And this:

I heard once, or thought up my ownself, about how the focus of the painting is the horse's a$$ because that's what St. Paul was prior to this moment.

And check out this gorgeous piece sculpted by a friend and fellow UD alum.

Here's a better view of her face.

Keep celebrating!  It's MEAT FRIDAY!

Joining Jen's Seven Quick Take crowd and Micaela's Three Reasons I Love Catholicism.