Contrary to popular belief...

I did not drop off the face of the earth. (A bummer for some, I know). No, two days after my last post, I found out I was pregnant with my third child, one who has thus far kept me too distracted from realizing I turned 40 this year, one whose smile melts my heart on this 11-degree day. It amazes me that a year ago I didn't even know this little guy. It's wonderful to be three times blessed.

Gonna RESOLVE not to be crabby...

I'm sitting here with Resolve carpet cleaner seeping into my sock, presumably my bloodstream as well. The youngest decided to try to drink her grape (PURPLE) juice in the family room, which has beige carpeting of course.

Next thing you know, she's wailing and pointing to a VERY large spot on the carpet, and apologizing as eloquently as she can. I poured nearly all of the cleaner on the carpet, and 5 hours later, it's still damp. What made me smile in spite of this was the beautiful Valentine card my oldest made us. If I was half as artistic as her, I'd be happy.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Excellency Leslee the Harmonious of Helions Bumpstead Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Don't be a (Patriots) hater

Okay, so the Patriots lost Sunday. Dropped passes and other miscues cost Brady & Beli the game. I'm bummed, but life goes on. I don't even hate the Colts. (Don't even get me started on the Bears, however).

There are two blogs I've noticed out there, one for Pats haters and one for Pats lovers, and what a difference. One blogger spends his/her time using the Lord's name in vain the entire blog entry, ranting unintelligibly, while the other gives good insight into why the Patriots won or lost a particular game. The Pats hater blog makes you that much more resolved to cheer the Patriots on, even if you could care less about them. GO PATS GO PATS GO PATS GO PATS GO PATS GO PATS GO PATS. Take that, Pats Haters.

*********ARTS ALERT********

Two cool broadcasts on PBS this week and next. If the following are not being broadcast in your corner of the world, you may commence feeling envious...NOW!

To see part one of Masterpiece Theater's adaptation of Jane Eyre, tune in Friday January 26 on channel 17. Next Sunday (1/28) is part two, 8 p.m. CST, with the rebroadcast on Friday 2/2 at 8 p.m. on channel 17. Yes, that's Georgie Henley of Narnia fame as young Jane.

Big. Huge. Julie Taymer's production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. 8-10 p.m. on Wednesday 1/24. Nathan Gunn as Papageno. 'Nuff said. (Rebroadcast is Thursday 1/25 at 8 p.m. on channel 17.

bonheur domestique 1

"...she shall have music wherever she goes..."

Sophie, my 5-year-old, must have been the inspiration for this nursery rhyme. She loves to sing and knows the words to many songs. She can also guess many songs when you hum or whistle them for her. Growing up, I would memorize all the songs off of Broadway cast recordings, and sing in my room, hoping my little sister wouldn't bust me. Sophie sings in the bathroom, in the car, in Target, and even to passersby on the street. No one's thrown money her way yet but I'm sure in time...

Sophie also likes to ask if a particular song is a "God song" (one that glorifies God). Sometimes I tell her, "God inspired the person to write the song." She doesn't always like that answer, but may begrudgingly add the song to her ever-expading repertoire. Sophie wants to be an opera singer when she grows up, among other things. I am hoping she will be onstage someday, singing her heart out.

Bill & Tom's Excellent Adventure

Congratulations to the New England Patriots, who beat the San Diego Chargers 24-21 to advance to the AFC Championship game versus Indy. Great job, guys.

Note to Coach Belichick: Dude, lose the "hacked-off-arms" sweatshirt!

Best of luck, and wish I could be there.

Hypocritical Oaths, Heartless Legislators

From
http://www.citizenlink.org:80/CLtopstories/A000003349.cfm

On Wednesday The U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass "the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, H.R. 6099, a bill that would have required abortionists to tell their patients about fetal development and the capacity of preborn children to feel pain. It also would have required doctors to offer pain-reducing drugs for preborn children -- all with the ultimate goal of convincing women not to proceed with their abortions."

It is a tragic day. The abortion holocaust will continue unabated, with many uninformed or underinformed women not realizing that the life they carry within is capable of feeling pain, even before the child is born. Nerve endings do not suddenly come into being when the baby is born. His or her body, just like yours and mine has the capacity to feel pain, and women have the right and the need to know this.

Think about it. If your child gets hurt and he or she is not with you, emergency contact information is put to good use, so that no matter where you are, you can be notified. You drop what you're doing to get to your child's side, because you are concerned for his/her welfare. You are aware of your child's pain. Your first priority would be doing anything within your power to ease your child's pain.

Why does a trip out of the birth canal suddenly entitle a human being to extraordinary measures to save his/her life, to ease his/her pain? The womb should be the ultimate place for human protection, not exploitation. With the defeat of this bill, the pain and suffering of the most defenseless among us will continue.

Repression Era Movies

I saw Pride & Prejudice (2005) again, and loved it even more the second time. It was great having the subtitles on for the first 20 minutes of the movies, and being able to truly understand the rapid-fire dialogue that occurs. I can understand fully how someone can wear a shirt that declares: "I love Mr. Darcy." (My husband is at the shirt shop now, getting me a shirt that has our last name on it).

You have to love the whole theme of repressed love running that courses throughout the movie because when that love is finally declared, it is a beautiful thing. Pride & Prejudice does truly make one "incandescently happy."

Conservative Bumper Stickers (Unofficial Tracker)

#1 "I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy."

#2 "God is Pro-life."

#3 "Abortion -- A Child Can Live Without It."

#4 "Let's raise the minimum wage so we can pay higher taxes and increase unemployment."

#5 "I Love Capitalism."

#6 "I think; therefore I am conservative."

Unofficial Nancy Pelosi Nickname Tracker

The newly-minted Speaker of the House has inspired some creative nicknames for herself. I will post them as I hear them.

#1 San Fran Nan (Laura Ingraham)

#2 Nasty Pelosi--from the land of fruits and nuts (GOPUSA website)

#3 Glamourous Grandma -- (Ms. Pelosi's own contribution)
("Grandma got run over by a reindeer--a reindeer named Steny Hoyer." -- Laura Ingraham)

#4 Congresswoman Mimi -- courtesy of her grandbrats

Schumerantings

The swords have been drawn. Let the bloodletting begin.

Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts has let it be known that President Bush's judicial nominees, if they appear conservative will be shot down. "There will be no more right-wing judges, period," he told the New York Daily News. "(Bush) will have to negotiate with us, because we'll have the majority."

This means that potential nominees who want to interpret the Constitution verbatim will not have a snowball's chance in Hades of being confirmed by the Senate. Apparently, being conservative in today's political climate is the kiss of death. If you believe that progress is being made in Iraq, that embryonic stem-cell research is wrong, or that taxes shouldn't be raised, you are viewed as backward religious freak with limited intellectual resources.

My question to the Democrats is this: What are you afraid of?

You get what you bray for

God's in His Heaven; all's right with the world. -- Robert Browning

Election Day 2006. A day that will indeed live in infamy. Rumsfeld has become the first sacrificial lamb for the Dems but most certainly not the last. Those who voted the Dems in will not be allowed to complain when tax cuts they've benefitted from in past years will be shot down by the new Democratic majority.

We must remember, however, that God is still firmly on the throne, and will remain in place forever. Those who look to their legislators for salvation will be sorely disappointed. Mortal man does not hold the keys to happiness. Even if this country's future might seem a little bleaker, we must not forget who ultimately rules the universe and everyone in it.

Labeled and Libeled by the ACLU

Getting the mail is normally a dull activity, with the occasional exception of finding rebate checks or presents in the box. Today, however, was different. Through no effort on my part, I received a membership offer from that liberal-with-a-capital-L organization, the ACLU.

Ouch.

In the missive, President Bush is villified and everyone calling themselves Christians are blasphemed. In one breath the ACLU call themselves champions of religious freedom, and in the next, they accuse President Bush and his allies of blurring the line separating church and state. The letter never details precisely which religions deserve freedom but we can assume Pentecostal Christianity is not high on the ACLU's list.

Their agenda includes dangling a carrot on a stick to a group they call the "persuadable middle," made up of those fence-sitters that cannot make any sort of decision on their own, and need the ACLU to lead them down the wide path toward a world that is God-free, abortion-abundant and soulless.

Sorry, Ms. Strossen. I'll have to respectfully decline your offer.

Twins tank it

The Twins, eliminated in three in the best-0f-5 divisional series, have been victimized by their own good fortune. Since after the All-Star break, they had been living in a bubble of sorts, dodging with grace injuries to Radke and Liriano, and playing awesome, "get back on the bandwagon, people" baseball.

The sheer brilliance of "youngstas" Mauer and Morneau, coupled with the consistent class acts of Torii Hunter, Johan Santana & Co. gave the Twins fans reason to celebrate. With Mauer's batting title and the MVP seasons of Morneau and Santana, how could the Twins possibly lose to the supposedly average A's? They can and they did. The Twins came crashing down from their post-season high in spectacular fashion, leaving not so much as a plume of smoke in their wake. Before they lost this series, they lost heart.

Somewhere, Kirby Puckett is crying.

Empty Nest, the prequel

It sure is quiet around here. The two babies are at school, and so far, only Rush Limbaugh or the soothing voices of the classical public radio station are filling a too-quiet space with sound. It's kind of nice to be able to listen to a piece played that you've never heard before. As the piece ends, you wait to hear the announcer tell you what it was.

At this exact moment, someone falls and hurts themselves, or you're summoned loudly to the family room to hear the "Love Ducks" song performed on "Arthur" for the third time in a week. "Maybe it was 'Mozark,' Mommy," the oldest says, trying to be helpful. Of course, everything played on the radio is 'Mozark' to her!

The eyes have it....

Les yeux sont le miroir de l'ame.

"The eyes are the mirror of the soul." This I believe to be true. I've noticed a troubling trend these days, and that is the lack of eye contact in our society. I'm handed change at the local megastore, with a curt "thanks" addressed directly above my head, left to wonder what is so intriguing above me that the person cannot look me in the eyes.

Is the person painfully shy? I can live with this. However, I'm left wondering what they have to hide. Are they afraid I will be able to see them as a real person, with real emotions? Have we perpetrated a society of persons who are afraid to look directly at anything but a computer screen or cell phone display? Let's hope a reversal of this trend will occur, and soon.

QB or not QB, that is the question

Aah. Fantasy Football. Two words that liven up any autumn weekend. Leaves fall outside, records fall inside. You hope your players do not become synonymous with words like "season-ending injury", or if you're a Vikings fan, "BOAT TRIP". Names like Shaun, Peyton, and LaDanian are dropped like they're your next door neighbors, and Monday morning finds you telling your computer to hurry up as the week's standings are updated.

Best of luck to everyone, except to those teams I will be matched up against. I am the only female in a public league, a loner in the Testosterone Zone. Look out boys, as the Mall Rats come charging on through!

Sergio Garcia, where art thou?

Okay, Sergio. It's hard to golf with your hands around your throat. Work on the putting!! The putting is all. You are an awesome golfer, and I'll even forgive your various wardrobe malfunctions (yellow and red, ouch!) but if you could win one, just one major this year, I will be so happy for you. I'm the last person who wants to start calling you the "Spaniard with a Lanyard." Little choke!

Mayfair Lady

About 15 years ago, my life changed forever when I met the houseplan of my dreams. I was nearly finished reading my issue of Victoria magazine when...I saw it. A Queen Anne Victorian. It was called "Mayfair" and it was perfect.

Never mind the man of my dreams had not yet materialized, as this is a four- bedroom and bathroom house. I was struck by its size, beauty, and design. Before I died, I vowed, I would watch this house be built for me. John Keats penned "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Visualizing this house, even on paper, is one of those things for me.