Homeschooling-
for the birds

Catholic Carnival-
Corpus Christi Edition

Carnival of Kid Comedy-
Daddies seem to be the focus

Carnival of Family Life-
#6 but new to me

Carnival of Pregnancy-
First one!

Carnival of Children’s Literature-
Broken Toe Edition

A Blogger’s Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep
All my passwords at my feet.
If I should die before I wake,
Blog for me, for heaven’s sake.
~unknown~

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The Blogger’s Prayer
by Andrew Jones

Our Father
who lives above and beyond the dimension of the internet

Give us this day a life worth blogging,
The access to words and images that express our journey with passion and integrity,
And a secure connection to publish your daily mercies.
Your Kingdom come into new spaces today,
As we make known your mysteries,
Posting by posting,
Blog by blog. Give this day,
The same ability to those less privileged,
Whose lives speak louder than ours,
Whose sacrifice is greater,
Whose stories will last longer. Forgive us our sins,
For blog-rolling strangers and pretending they are friends,
For counting unique visitors but not noticing unique people,
For delighting in the thousands of hits but ignoring the ONE who returns,
For luring viewers but sending them away empty handed,
For updating daily but repenting weekly. As we forgive those who trespass on our sites to appropriate our thoughts without reference,
Our images without approval,
Our ideas without linking back to us. Lead us not into the temptation to sell out our congregation,
To see people as links and not as lives,
To make our blogs look better than our actual story. But deliver us from the evil of pimping ourselves instead of pointing to you,
From turning our guests into consumers of someone else’s products,
From infatuation over the toys of technology,
From idolatry over technology
From fame before our time has come. For Yours is the power to guide the destinies behind the web logs,
To bring hurting people into the sanctuaries of our sites,
To give us the stickiness to follow you, no matter who is watching or reading.
Yours is the glory that makes people second look our sites and our lives,
Yours is the heavy ambience, For ever and ever,
Amen

I’ve updated CatholicGraphics.com with new Holy Cards.

My parents and sister, Col, and her husband joined my sister, Honey and her family down the ocean yesterday and I’m feeling a bit melancholy…wishing my back wasn’t messed up so that the twins, Quinn and I could have joined them. Of course, leaving the care of our dogs and cat, Honey’s dog and cats and my parents’ cat wouldn’t have been very fair to Michael and Sean.

I love taking vacations with my family. So many wonderful memories. I wrote this to go with an image of mine, Grandmom’s Chair, a few years ago…

My grandmother was a hard worker and lived well into her eighties and I mean she lived. She had more energy at 80 than I do at 44. *smile* She was a tiny, busty German lady who used w’s for v’s and v’s for w’s in her speech. She was warm, loving and lots of fun. When we were down the shore she would take breaks from housework and cooking, sitting in an old Adirondack chair, looking out over the water, fanning herself with an oriental paddle fan. The following is from a webpage I made a couple of years ago entitled Eastern Shore Memories….

Eastern Shore (to me as a child) was my Grandparents’ summer shore home on the Little Choptank River. It was a small house on a dozen or so acres off of Ross Neck Road, past Cambridge, Maryland. Memories fade with time and I wanted to do this for that reason–to try to recall all the little things about those wonderful summer days spent there. Sometimes the memories are so clear and crisp and other times blurred, slipping away before I get a chance to grab hold of them…

the sound of water lapping against the old gray pier

the distant sound of a motor boat

sailboats across the horizon

dogs barking in the distance–the sound of a farmer’s tractor

a bobwhite call
the smell of the salt water
the smell of salted eels
exploring the different shores with my family–long rides in the motorboat
sea nettles
turtles
commercial crabbing boats
water snakes
puffer fish
garfish
the silver flash of minnies in the minnow trap
eels in the minnow trap
crabs fins clicking against the livebox
old bay seasoning and vinegar
the ticking of the old alarm clock on top of the refrigerator
the slam of the screen door
bugs humming at night
the smell of bug-off oil
the slick feel of the paint on the stools at the kitchen counter
the fire every evening to steam the crabs
Mr. and Mrs. Parker and Happy their black Lab
Dairy Queen in the evening as a treat
fresh corn, tomatoes and cucumbers from the roadside stands
cold showers because Daddy refused to light the hot water heater
the sound of the pump from the pump house
the taste of brackish water from the faucet
the velvet feel to soft crabs
lying on the pier face down with my nose pressed between the cracks–smelling the water, feeling the cool water breeze and the hot sun on the backs of my thighs
small snails on the marsh reeds
the scariness of the garage because of black snakes living there
the long drive through the woods to get to the house
the big bump at the beginning to the lane
reading old hunting magazines left there by my uncle and cousins during the winter months
fishing magazines
my grandparents playing cards on the front porch every evening–their laughter
I miss them so much!
hot days–hot nights
lazing about–doing nothing or exploring the woods or the shore by rowboat
playing cards
eating cream cheese and crackers with jam for the first time
taking long walks with my Grandmom
dipping crabs with lines thrown off the pier–takes skill to pull up a line with one hand and dip with the other and it’s been made obsolete by the invention of crab traps
trot lines and the excitement of catching a big one or a doubler
watching a crab slough
small baby sand crabs
the sharpness of barnacles on the pier and the boat
my sister’s birthday end of August–it was usually our last visit there before summer ended and school began

a Softer Focus
Dani3D.com - Art Blog

A couple of years ago, while vacationing in Cape May, NJ, with my sister and her family, I ran across a frazzled mom of one very active 1 1/2 year old boy. She was watching with something between fascination and horror at our five children, my twins and Quinn (Sean stayed at home with Michael), and my sister’s twin girls (the boys hadn’t been born yet). The twins were running around on the beach, playing in the ocean and having a wonderful time. Quinn and I were playing a bit more quietly, picking up shells. We got into a discussion about how hard it was raising just one child and to her surprise I agreed with her. I explained about how having more than one is actually much easier. Of course, it doesn’t start out that way, especially with twins…you never get any sleep the first two years but then, something magical happens, your twins start to play with each other (and their big brother) and you can actually get things done again. *smile*

My friend, Maureen Wittmann, from the Thrifty Homeschooler wrote an excellent article on how larger familes actually are better consumers of the earth’s resources. I wish I could find it online but if you join her Yahoo group (and you should because it offers excellent tips), it should be in the post archives. Anyway, I love how it starts, so here is a bit of it…

Save the Earth, Have More Children by Maureen Wittmann

~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~ . ~~~

I’ve never made a fortune,
And I’ll never make one now
But it really doesn’t matter
‘Cause I’m happy anyhow

As I go along my journey
I’m reaping better than I’ve sowed
I’m drinking from the saucer
‘Cause my cup has overflowed

Click to View Image

Click on the image to download the PSD file. The watering can, ladybug and buzzy bee are all on their own layers.

Fairy Day is June 24th…”The official holiday for fairy collectors, believers, artisans, and the young at heart.” During our vacation to Tennessee last year we stopped by the Boyd’s Bear Country store in Pigeon Forge and I found these fairies and fell in love.

You can right click and save for your own webpage, if you like, or pick up one of the linking graphics from the Fairy Day website.

~~~ .. ~~~ .. ~~~ .. ~~~

I found a little fairy flute,
Under a hairbell blue,
I sat me down upon the moss,
And blew a note or two.
~unknown~

~~~ .. ~~~ .. ~~~ .. ~~~

I had a bit of trouble when I imported both blogs from Blogger. Seems that it messed up some coding on the pages in the archives and also blanked out the table graphic so the posts couldn’t be read. I deleted everything and just imported Dani’s Daily Thought. I’ve decided to keep Dani3D.com - Art Blog, continue to upload my daily art there and provide a link here…I also like the way Blogger manages the images better than WP.

I did categorize everything (AGAIN!) but didn’t touch the formatting of the posts so things that should be centered, aren’t but it is all readable in both Firefox and Internet Explorer now. At least I hope so!
Blog Notes:
Some computer humor HERE.
Office Humor Blog

a Fairy Castle

Carnival is up.