Six Months!

Time marches on all too quickly...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

We had some friends over this weekend for dinner, and they brought their two year old daughter, Sarah. After dinner, she was bustling around our family room, moving books and picture frames around and happened on a Bible sitting on a side table. As she started flipping through the pages, the following convo came about...



Sarah's Dad: Be careful with the pages! That's a Bible. You need to be very gentle.

Kevin: Eh, don't worry about that. We're Catholics. We don't read the Bible. It's just for decoration.

Sarah: (Still flipping through the Bible) He's crazy!



Let's be honest. Kevin's comment is absolute farce, but Sarah's comment is absolute truth!

Just One of the Perks

Even Monica's excited by the little break we get from the IRS!

Who Needs a Teething Ring

...when there's a perfectly good nose to chew on?

Easter Has Only Begun

One thing I love about being Catholic is that Easter is not only one day. In fact, it is an 8 day feast and the Easter season lasts until Pentecost. So wishing someone Happy Easter on Monday is totally valid! Here is a meditation by Papa Ben that I came across in the Magnificat. May we all be Easter People!

Jesus...says of his death: "I go away, and I will come to you." It is by going away that he comes. His going ushers in a completely new and greater way of being present. By dying he enters into the love of the Father. His dying is an act of love. Love, however, is immortal. Therefore, his going away is transformed into a new coming, into a form of presence which reaches deeper and does not come to an end...Jesus who is now totally transformed through the act of love, is free from barriers and limits. He is able not only to pass through colsed doors in the outside world, as the Gospels recount (Jn 20:19). He can pass through the interior door separating the "I" from the "you," the closed door between yesterday and today, between the past and the future...Now he can even surmount the wall of otherness that spearates the "I" from the "you."...Believers are never totally cut off from one another. We are in communion because of our deepest identity: Christ within us. Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close (Eph 2:13)...The Lord has granted us the light of truth. This light is also fire, a powerful force coming from God, a force that does not destroy, but seeks to transform our hearts, so that we truly become men of God, and so that his peace can become active in this world...Let us pray...in these words: Yes, Lord, make us Easter people, men and women of light, filled with the fire of your love.

Pope Benedict XVI

Peace to You On Good Friday

In the Cross is salvation,
in the Cross is life,
in the Cross is protection from enemies,
in the Cross is infusion of divine peace,
in the Cross is fortitude of heart,
in the Cross is joy of spirit,
in the Cross is summary of the virtues,
in the Cross is the perfection of sanctity.
There is no salvation for the soul or hope of everlasting life except in the Cross. Take, then, your cross, follow Jesus Christ and you will enter eternal life.
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

Our Shower Just Got Manlier

Every March, Kevin and I have a Bracket Challenge. We fill out the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament bracket and tally up the points throughout the following weeks. When we started this tradition in 2004, we were still dating so the loser would treat the winner to a dinner out. Once we were married, the stakes were not so high since there was no longer "my money" and "your money" so we started making different wagers. Last year, my coveted prize was 5 Scrabble games (Kevin is notoriously stubborn about playing) and Kevin's winning was to be 30 days of me making the bed (he loves a freshly made bed and I could care less so he always makes it.) While the wagers are never exciting, it's fun to watch the games and our progress as the tournament rolls on.

This year, we didn't place our bets until the night of the championship game, since our brackets came down to the last contest. If I won, I wanted salt and vinegar potato chips and chocolate soy milk. Weird, but that's what sounded good at that moment. (I suppose I could go out and get that stuff myself at any time, but someone else going out, purchasing the goods and giving them to me while I lounge on the couch was a happy proposition.) Kevin decided on the Axe Shower Detailer Tool. Apparently, he was quite intrigued by the Amazon review.

So when UNC won, Kevin got his wish. The Shower Detailer is all his for a more manly scrub down. But despite the tire-like grip and hard-core black and red coloring, I still say a poof's a poof.

'Cause Real Men Don't Do Loofahs

I was flipping through my coupon inserts from the Sunday paper, and I came across a coupon for this little beauty: the Axe Detailer Shower Tool. That's right. It's a shower poofy for only the manliest of men.

For many men, this is probably a welcome replacement to the purple poof that has been hanging (secretly) in their shower. It sort of reminds me of a Mandle, in that it makes something traditionally feminine more palatable to the burly, grease-covered, dirt wearin' manly man. I especially enjoyed this, shall I say, detailed excerpt from an Amazon review:

I was detailing my car this morning, and thought about the detailer shower tool from Axe. I guess the clever Mad Men down in marketing got me, because I picked one up in the afternoon while I was out. It actually does look very much like a car detailing tool, with the black and red color scheme and the "tire" ring around the outside edge. It is stylized enough so that it doesn't look like something that should be decorating a mechanic's garage. I have to admit, it does look considerably better hanging in the shower than the purple shower poof it replaced.

The rubber outer edge is soft, and feels like the polyurethane that inflatable pool floats are made from more than the hard rubber of a car tire. This makes it easier to hold, but compressible so that a good lather can be worked up from the black colored shower poof inside (it is in there, hiding behind the red scrubby pad). So already I like this better than the traditional poof, because it feels better in my hand, is easier to hold, and looks better. But, what really threw it over the top for me is the red scrubby pad on the front.

At first I thought I would have to add soap to the red pad to use it, but the lather from the poof behind it squeezes right through it, so if you've been using the rest of the tool, the scrubby is all soaped up and ready to go. It is perfect for getting dirt, oils, and, yes, green grass stains off of the soles of feet, toes, elbows, palms, and other tougher areas of the skin (it does tickle a bit!). It is too rough for any other delicate regions, but the puff behind it is fine for those (that one is the same as a standard puff, and is a little bit scratchy like those are, but nothing too rough).

Fear not you men who are ashamed of your pink shower poofy. The Axe Detailer is the answer to those lathering insecurities.

Have I Mentioned...

...how much I love my little girl?

Monica has grown into a fabulous little baby. Not to say that I did not always love her. I have always loved her more than I can express, but now, I am truly enjoying her.

Because Monica had a lot of uncomfortable feeding issues (reflux, milk allergy etc) she was often fussy, gassy, hungry, and tired. Now, she is well-fed, and well-rested, which as many parents know, often makes for a happy baby. She loves to cuddle on our bellies, which is just too cute. I am so excited to continue to watch her grow up and experience even more joy with her!

Keep Your Snit!

Found this on a friend's blog and I had to post it myself. Makes me thankful to have friends (even those w/o kids!) who are understanding about communication blackouts.

New Digs

I decided it was time for a new look. Here's to Scrapblog!