Joy Notes and Saint of the Day

Saint of the Day:

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Joy Notes:

No Joy Notes for today :(

Words of the Day

Wordsmith Word of the Day:

fugleman (FYOO-guhl-muhn) noun

One who leads a group, company, or party.

[From German Flügelmann (flank man), from Flügel (wing) + Mann (man).
A fugleman was once a soldier placed usually on a flank during drill
to serve as a guide for his company.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=fugleman

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"[Mencken] was trying single-handedly to drag American culture out of
Puritanism and into the twentieth century, to act as fugleman on this
side of the Atlantic for a literary and artistic renaissance comparable
to the one then taking place on the other side."
Jonathan Yardley; The Sage of Baltimore; The Atlantic Monthly (New York);
Dec 2002.

M-W Word of the Day:

enmity • \EN-muh-tee\ • noun

: positive, active, and typically mutual hatred or ill will

Example Sentence:
Having to work on the project together only increased the enmity between Ralph and Debra, who had never gotten along.
Did you know?
"Enmity" and its synonyms "hostility," "animosity," and "animus" all indicate deep-seated dislike or ill will. "Enmity" (which derives from an Anglo-French word meaning "enemy") suggests true hatred, either overt or concealed. "Hostility" implies strong, open enmity that shows itself in attacks or aggression. "Animosity" carries the sense of anger, vindictiveness, and sometimes the desire to destroy what one hates. "Animus" is generally less violent than "animosity," but definitely conveys active prejudice or ill will.

My "New" Bathroom

I'm almost finished with getting the bathroom done. My husband picked out the color, which I thought wasn't going to be nice, but has turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Amanda chose the shower curtain, and helped paint most of the room



It is quite small, so I had to compromise and purchase "Bath in a Box" from Walmart. The price was very reasonable ($39.88), and included the over the toilet shelves, standing towel rack, and magazine rack

Here are some pictures of the room, just about done









Now all I have to do is have the electrician come in, to install the lighting I want over the sink. We decided to stick with a simple mirror, and just have the light bar installed. Either that, or my husband is going to go cheap and have those puck lights hanging in there LOL!

Words of the Day

I thought another great feature would be to post the word of the day, from both M-W and Wordsmith.

From M-W:

The Word of the Day for October 16, 2007 is:
fervid • \FER-vid\ • adjective

1 : very hot : burning

*2 : marked by often extreme intensity of feeling

Example Sentence:
Jennie was such a fervid supporter of the proposed law that she drove all the way to Washington to demonstrate in favor of its passage.
Did you know?
The Latin verb "fervēre" can mean "to boil" or "to glow," as well as, by extension, "to seethe" or "to be roused." In English, this root gives us three words that can mean "impassioned" by varying degrees: "fervid," "fervent," and "perfervid." "Fervid" and "fervent" are practically synonymous, but while "fervid" usually suggests warm emotion that is expressed in a spontaneous or feverish manner (as in "fervid basketball fans"), "fervent" is reserved for a kind of emotional warmth that is steady and sincere (as in "a fervent belief in human kindness"). "Perfervid" combines "fervid" with the Latin prefix "per-" ("thoroughly") to create a word meaning "marked by overwrought or exaggerated emotion," as in "a perfervid display of patriotism."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

And from Wordsmith:

A.Word.A.Day--pasha

This week's theme: words for bosses, officials, and leaders.

pasha (PA-shuh, PASH-uh, puh-SHAH) noun

A person of high rank or importance.

[From Turkish pasa, from Persian padshah, from pati (master) + shah (king). Pasha was used as a title of high-ranking officials in the Ottoman Empire.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"The rise and rise of Ajay Bijli as the pasha of Indian multiplexes is born out of his passion for motion pictures." Moinak Mitra & Shubham Mukherjee; Sundowner with Ajay Bijli; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Oct 6, 2007.

I find these to be great vocabulary exercises, especially for those of us who spent little time studying the subject.

Usually, Wordsmith has a different theme. This week their theme is bosses, officials, and leaders.

Joy Notes and Saint of the Day

The first link is for today's Saint of the Day, St. Marguerite d'Youville, courtesy of AmericanCatholic.org

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintofDay/

The second is for today's Joy Notes from Sister Patricia

http://franciscancards.com/peace/oct07/joyoct16.html

I always enjoy reading the Joy Notes, especially Danielle Beans' blog.

A Quiet Place

Since moving, I've had to downsize everything. We used to have our religious articles all over the place. I decided to keep everything in one small spot. A few years ago, we were given a glass corner shelf. It was nothing more than a dust collector before, but now it's being used for our religious articles



I still need to hang the Holy Water fonts, but overall I think it looks wonderful :)

The candles on the bottom shelf are ones Amanda picked up at our local supermarket. I still have one of Pope John Paul II that we burned for days, yet it never quite got to the bottom. This is a great place for me to have some quiet time to pray and reflect.

Mazezilla!

Here's the corn maze my dd and her 4-H group went through this past Friday:



Now, here's a picture of the "frozen" group, after leaving the maze:



Also, an article on the maze and the family who runs it:

http://poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS/710150321

I live in the township where the maze is currently located. Hamilton became so greedy in their quest to have the maze "professionally engineered", they didn't look at the bigger picture. The land where the maze was located until 1999 has been for sale since then. Greed knows no boundaries :(

Article On Catholic Education And Homeschooling

Here's a great article from Catholic Exchange on Catholic education for every Catholic kid:

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/65754

While not everyone is able to homeschool, the very least we can provide for our children is a good Catholic education at home, if none is available at the parish level. I've convinced quite a few people in my parish to use one of the homeschool programs for religious education. The curriculum (Blest Are We) used by parish for the catechetical program is so poor, I cry every time I look at one of the books. I also cringe, knowing the faith of every child using the book is being undermined by CCD teachers are have little to no working knowledge of the faith.

I also don't believe we need to spend a fortune homeschooling. There are good quality books available, for a fraction of what it would cost to send a child to Catholic or private school, but every book does not need to be purchased. I've gotten into many an argument with my fellow Catholic homeschoolers who think it's necessary to purchase "complete" curricula. If a book is used once or twice, why purchase it? I always try to seek out the book, usually through ILL. So far, I haven't been disappointed. We do spend quite a bit on music lessons, about $55 per week. That works out to $2,860 per year, which is still far less than tuition to the local Catholic school.

Just my $.02 :)

Grand Champion

After all the hours of hard work, frustration, exhaustion, and tears, I'm proud to announce Amanda took Grand Champion for her collection. Considering what happened a little over two weeks ago, I'm still stunned and amazed. She worked very hard at getting everything in order. Of course, I was the one who had to make sure everything was in order.

I love the big purple ribbon



Besides this entry, she also received 13 1st place, 10 2nd place, and 1 3rd place ribbons.

Now maybe I can rest for a little while? Nah, I don't think so :)

The Humanity!

Tonight, Amanda pretty much destroyed one of her collections. I'm really quite angry still, even though it's been a couple hours since it happened. She's up late now, fixing whatever can be repaired, while I'm up watching her. My husband thought it was unfair for me to be critical, as I told her to not play around them. He still treats her like she's 4 or 5 years old. I'm then the one who has to deal with her attitude. I hope it doesn't happen again, because if it does, that's the end of her 4-H career. I don't need this nonsense :(

Here's the picture pre-destruction:



I won't even consider posting the post-destruction box. She will be angry with me, and it won't do either of us any good.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

I was stunned about my results:

Which Disney Princess Are You?
	You are Cinderella. You are hard-working and never complain, however, your trust is sometimes misplaced and people sometimes take advantage of you. Still, you are beautiful inside and out, and one day you will realize it and find true love.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Now, in the past people may have taken advantage of me, but over the last fifteen years or so I would say that's not true. Maybe I should take the quiz again :)

Took the quiz again, and here are my results (I changed only two answers):

Which Disney Princess Are You?
	You are part Ariel. You are beautiful but impaired. At times you are naïve. Still, your innocence and good heart make you sought after and loved.
	You are part Belle. You are strong, deep, and you are not a slave to petty superficial things. You are independent and allow yourself to see inner beauty without sacrificing your values. You are almost too good of a person.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

I could see being Belle, but not Ariel or Cinderella. Oh well :)

Creator Of The Butterfly Videos

Here's a video from the Los Angeles Bug Fair posted on youtube. Chris is the person who created those wonderful butterfly videos I posted in my blog previously. Very nice collections! I especially like the swallowtail and polyphemus moths :)

Wasps and Hornets

While searching youtube, we came across Amanda's favorite insects. She wasn't labeled the "wasp girl" and "parasitic girl" for nothing :)

First video is of a yellow jacket wasps' nest



The second video is of a bald-faced hornets' nest. We had one of these in our yard two years ago. Amanda thought they were interesting, especially after they started attacking her *rolls eyes*

Interesting Insect Videos

I can't believe I haven't posted to my blog since May :( It seems I've pushed it to the side, concentrating on too many other activities. While doing a web search, I came across some wonderful videos on youtube on butterfly life cycles or butterflies emerging. I'm always amazed at these wonderful creatures and how they transform from bulky caterpillars to graceful "birds". The first one is of the phoebis sennae, or cloudless sulfur. This is one of those small ones I absolutely love!



The second one is the Sonoran blue. It's wing span is actually only an inch or so. They're located on the west coast, but are similar in color to our eastern tail-blues



The third is the pipevine swallowtail. I can never get enough watching them pump the blood from their fat little bodies to their wings



I'll have to search for more lepidoptera videos to post. My personal preference would be to find either cecropia moth or imperial moth cocoons. It's difficult to find them locally, as they are pretty much gone from this area. I'll just have to keep on hunting :)