7 Quick Takes Friday

1.  Another prayer to St. Joseph would be lovely, since you're here.  Dh has a big afternoon planned!  It's very exciting.  Thanks!

2.  Lisa has a post up about St. Francis de Sales whose feast day was the 24th (or today on the Traditional calendar).  She posted some of his quotations which struck me as rather personal:

“Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly
 
“Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections.”
 
“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.”
 
“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself.”
  

 I need to read more of St. Francis; it's been a long time since I picked up The Devout Life.   I felt a strong urge to get Finding God's Will for You last year because I was struggling with that very subject.  I lost the book for months, and then when I had found it, I had evidently lost the urge to read it as well.

It's back now.  The urge.  And the book.

3.  We went to the park the other day to get some sunshine and exercise.  It was no fun.  The wind was cold, cold, cold, and some of us who were not moving as much as others were freezing to death. 

TMax was kicking around a football and managed to hyperextend his knee, so we limped back to the car after about 20 minutes.  He was miserable and in a lot of pain.  I wish I had a picture of him riding the Little Princess's scooter around the house the next day because walking was so painful.  

I'm happy to report that after 2 days of limping, he's mostly back to normal and can straighten his leg again.  

Who knew that being the kicker for the football team could be so dangerous?

4.  Last week I read The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden on Melissa's recommendation.  It's a short, quick read, and it's very charming.  I liked it so much that I'm reading it to Pipster and Princess as part of their religion curriculum.  We'll be spending some time online today looking up icons.  We might even get around to making one.

I think I can read this book aloud without sobbing through it.  That makes it kind of hard.

5.  Knitwise, I'm working on finishing LP's sweater.  I hit a snag when I started putting it together.  The sleeves are not only too short, but they're not wide enough to fit into the armholes.  I had to lengthen the sweater because she's so tall and thin, but I didn't change the construction of the sleeves----other than try to make them longer.  But the changes I made in the body, made the armholes bigger and now I have to take out a good chunk of the sleeves and re-do them.  

I think I'll get there.  I'm going to try to get it done this weekend.  I haven't wanted to work on it, but I realized that winter is wearing away and it won't fit her next year in all probability.  So, it's now or never.

6.  My kids are having a blast playing with the Mac and it's photo capabilities.  I haven't the faintest idea how they do the things they do, but there are zillions of pictures that they've taken of themselves.

 

  

They're very creepy.

 

7.  We have the homeschool Spell-Off coming up on February 12.  It's the equivalent of a county spelling bee.  There will be 4 spellers.  Only 1 will be eliminated.  I'd hate to be The One.

Accordingly, TMax and I have been studying, and it. is. Hard!  I mean, I know most of the words and I'm a good speller, but there are certainly words that I haven't seen before.  Imagine being 14 and confronted with these words.

The booklet we're using for study has the words grouped by Language of Origin so you can learn how certain sounds are spelled.  It helps, but English must be one of the hardest languages when it comes to spelling!  There are so many words from other origins, and even then we don't follow all the rules, or we change the word to make it more like some of our other words.

It's interesting and educational.  I'm not sure it's Fun.  The kids that do these things with the intention of getting all the way to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC must love it.  Or they're forced into it by their parents.  

If you haven't yet, you've got to see Akeelah and the Bee.  It's about an inner city girl with a gift for spelling and her trip to the Scripp's National Spelling Bee.  It's not only a great movie, but it gives you a great look at what this competition is like.  Fierce.

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That's it for now.  Drop by Jen's for more Quick Takes!