28 September 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday, Vol. I


I
I've been meaning to start doing these for months, and something always comes up to interfere with my blogging plans on Fridays! I finally outsmarted the computer, though: I'm writing this on Thursday night instead. Shh, don't tell...

II
Good King Wenceslaus went out, on the feast of Stephen... I'm ashamed to admit it, but that song contains the sum total I know about St. Wenceslaus. In fact, it probably contains more than my total knowledge about the saint, because I can never remember more than the first verse! Because today is his feast day, I decided to see what I could learn.

Wenceslaus was a Bohemian duke, not king, in the 900s who was known for his piety and generosity to the poor. His grandfather converted to Christianity through the influence of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, but in Wenceslaus' day, the new religion still faced great resistance from devotees of the old Germanic paganism. This conflict raged in Wenceslaus' own family, and may have played a part in his assassination by his brother, Boleslav the Cruel. He was acclaimed a martyr immediately following his death in 935, and Holy Roman Emperor Otto I posthumously declared him a king. A Czech legend claims that when the country faces its greatest danger, the statue of St Wenceslaus in Prague will come to life and lead an army of knights, currently asleep within the mountain Blanik, in their defense.

III
Since Matt worked late last night, I had the opportunity to swing by the Catholic Student Association up at the university for Mass and to introduce the baby to everyone I hadn't seen since last school year. Two of the guys had dinner ready following Mass: miso soup, onigiri (with coconut!), and salmon sushi. I didn't have time to sit down to dinner before picking Matt up, but they insisted on packing up some onigiri and sushi for us. It was so good!

IV
The CSA guys couldn't get over how much Little Bear resembles his dad -- they were sure that if he just had a beard, they would look identical. I'm almost tempted to see what I can do with a crochet hook and some scraps of brown yarn...

V
People ask me all the time whether I've adjusted to being a mom yet. My response is generally "yes, of course"... and it's true, at least most of the time. And yet I was shocked the other day to realize that the woman flying down the road ahead of me in a mustang was about my age, but she was a college student and I'm a mom. It's not that I think of myself as a college student... it just made me feel old, somehow.

VI
Wanted: stain remover that actually works on baby messes! We have at least one diaper explosion and one instance of projectile vomiting a day, and I have yet to find anything that really gets rid of either stain.

VII
Why do they make overalls, real denim overalls with big metal hooks and nobs and such, for baby boys? Yes, they look cute, but I can't imagine the designers have ever actually dressed a baby in their creation and had them stay happy for long. We keep trying to convince Little Bear that he likes them, and he keeps throwing up on them to get us to take them off. So far, he is definitely winning.

2 comments:

  1. I hear you on the baby stains...if I'm diligent about rinsing out poop as soon as I change Felix, I can usually get most of it out -- and then I can pre-treat whatever's left with a couple good sprays of Shout :) If they're old stains by the time I do laundry (gross...I know), I still rinse them out and do the Shout. I usually have good luck with that.

    I had a conversation with another young mom at church about how we want to go up to college girls at Panera, grip them by the shoulders and say, "ENJOY THESE YEARS! College is SO EASY!" ... and of course come off as total crazies. But it's true :)

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  2. We've found oxiclean stain stick to work well in getting diaper explosions off clothes.

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