Little One's first confession

Well, not really since she is only 3. However, she did insist quite vocally that she wanted to go with me a few weeks ago. I explained that she had to be very quiet and that we would most likely have to wait in line (which is good since it means that there is a line to wait in).

So, off we went to church on a Saturday afternoon. Little did the others in line know that they would get minor entertainment while waiting their turn to enter the confessional.

And little did the priest know that he would be blessed with three-year-old advice. Something like:

Father: "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Little One: "Mommy, say the 'Glory Be'." (I'm convinced she likes this prayer because it is short.)
Me: "Maybe later dear."

And this is what I remember for my penance: "Read and meditate on the Beatitudes. And then say one ..." Uh, oh, is that bad that I forgot which prayer he wanted me to say? I tried to compensate by saying one each Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.

You Shall Believe

Last week, I went with a dear friend to a talk entitled "You Shall Believe". Excellent! (Although the timing of the event did nothing for my s-l-o-w transformation into a morning person.)

Two gentlemen from Australia, Ron Tesoriero and investigative reporter Mike Willesee, spoke about their investigation and documentation of several miraculous events such as a weeping statue, a communion host changing to flesh, and a woman in Bolivia with the stigmata. The interesting angle is that they use science to prove the validity of these miracles.

I have not read it yet, but I did pick up a copy of their book Reason to Believe.

You can see a short video on Eucharistic miracles and a longer excerpt from a Fox broadcast on stigmata by visiting their site.

Healthcare in the UK

Posted on EWTN today, an example of how healthcare fails in the UK: Infant Left Untreated Because of U.K. Health Rules.

Doctors in England ignored a mother’s pleas for help and left her extremely premature baby to die because he was born two days before a hospital guidelines’ recommended cutoff age for providing medical treatment.

How not to succeed in becoming a morning person

I failed miserably last night. See, I get tired at the end of the day, often feeling as though I could go to bed at the same time as Little One (around 8 pm). But I don't, which can lead to trouble (like last night). It starts out innocent enough: check Facebook "for a few minutes, not long. I promise!"

But since I am already logged in, I have to take a few quizzes (I am a left-brained person who does well staying on task and prefers the government to stay out of people's business), maybe play a quick game or two (or five). Then I notice that a friend from college has posted a comment on someone else's photo. College was a bit of an alternative time for me (one that I would not repeat), so there is a certain curiosity on my part to check out what is going on in the lives of the not-even-a-handful of people that I have only kind of stayed in touch with.

(It looks like I'm the one who has changed. Or was I ever really that...alternative? Of course, thinking back, I can't say that I truly fit in with that group of people either. There was the whole "Which brand of cigarettes do you smoke so I know whether or not to bum one from you" incident. The girl was genuinely confused by my "I don't smoke" answer. Then there were the "oh, you are not into girls, are you?" questions. Uh, no I am not "into girls". But I digress.)

Anyway, by clicking on the link to the friend's comment, I see a photo of a girl from that group of people. In fact, now that I think about, I think she was the one who wanted to know my brand of cigarettes. This gets me thinking about the music that I used to listen to. Which leads me to searching for anyone that may have compiled lists from certain clubs of the time and place. Which I find and then have to search for on You Tube. After listening to a number of them and exclaiming "Wow, I haven't heard this song in 15 or 20 years!" to my husband (who takes the opportunity to point out that he is younger than me), I realize that I am really tired and that it is after 11 pm.

And this is how I stay up too late.

Blood Money

Watch the trailer for Blood Money, a movie about abortion and Planned Parenthood.

Making Marshmallows

Last night we (mostly me) made homemade marshmallows. Not the healthiest food in the world, but nonetheless, tasty and fun to make. And, as a side benefit, making marshmallows works as a science project for Little One: mixing solids and liquids and heating them changes the form of the matter, mixing in air changes the consistency. You can do your own search, but here is the recipe that I used:

Homemade Marshmallows

.75-oz unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes of gelatin)
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Corn starch
Powered sugar

Line 9 x 9-inch pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it. Set aside. (I used two smaller pans since I didn’t have the correct size. I also sprinkled the oiled plastic wrap with the powered sugar mix below.)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for about 10 minutes. (I don’t have a stand electric mixer, so I used a large bowl. You do need a large bowl.)

Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil and boil hard for 1 minute. (Other recipes called for a candy thermometer, which I don’t have. Notice a trend?)

Pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, add in the vanilla extract beat to incorporate. (To continue the trend, I don’t have a whisk attachment for my hand electric mixer, although I’m pretty sure I did at one time.)

Lightly grease your hands and the spatula. Scrape marshmallow into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, or overnight, until cooled and firmly set. (Just like on the bottom of the pan, I sprinkled some of the powered sugar mixture on top first.)

In a shallow dish, combine equal parts cornstarch and powered sugar. Remove marshmallow from pan and cut into equal pieces with scissors or a chef's knife. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners' sugar mixture. (At the time of this post, I haven’t gotten this far. I read on another site that using a pizza cutter works great too.)

Store in an airtight container. Makes about 40 large marshmallows, depending on the size you choose to cut them.

Little One and I had great fun, especially scraping the bowl afterwards. Granted, we had to go straight to bath, but it was still yummy!

Writing books

Yesterday, my first book arrived in the mail. Before we all get excited (happy dance!), let me just say that this is a self published children’s book that would have to be revised prior to any actual publication. For more information on self publishing, try Blurb.

I learned several things. First, a lot of work, dedication and focus go into writing books. It took me several years to finalize a 30 page book (mostly due to finding the right illustrations – via photography – to go with the story).

Second, I’m excited even if the book is never sold anywhere. How cool is it to see a finished product like a book that you created?

I’m thrilled that Little One was excited to read the book and now wants to write a book too. How cute! There is much truth in the fact that children imitate what they see their parents do. They learn by example, by seeing and doing.

Final lesson: There is a reason editors exist.