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I can't believe it's Friday already!  What happened to Tuesday and Wednesday?  I know what happened to Thursday---it was just busy!

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Loving Simcha's post from yesterday about stem cell research and the Church!  If I were having babies still, I'd definitely be saving their cord blood, if not for my family, for anyone else who needs it.  And I think everyone should be registered as a bone marrow donor because it really does save lives.  My favorite quote:

And yet the field has shown mixed results, if by “mixed results” you mean “dismal and unmitigated failure.”  When asked to list “diseases cured by embryonic stem cell therapy,” Google Chrome said,  “Aw, snap.  The information you are looking for does not appear to exist.”  It then asked, “Did you mean ‘adult stem cell cures?’”  and offered 13,700,000 results. 

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Last night was my regular AHG board meeting, and, instead of rushing around trying to make dinner before I left, I let Meg do it for her Cooking badge.  She had to make pizza dough from scratch.  (I let her do the rest of it, too.)  She used Barbara's easy, yummy recipe.  From what I heard, everyone enjoyed it very much.  

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I didn't get to post on Wednesday's yarn along because I was busy deciding what to knit next.  I tried on the Slinky Ribs (Wendy Barnard) sweater I've been working on which fit much better than I expected, but I had made some choices and mistakes that I didn't really care for, so  I'm frogging it in favor of this V-neck.  I'll go back to it eventually because I love it.

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Have you heard that Advent is just around the corner?  Yikes.  I mean, it's a good thing, and I love the New Church year, but I'm so not ready.  Not ready to keep the dog away from the Christmas tree!  Maybe the theme this year will be Simplicity.  Simplicity, all the way around, sounds like a really good thing.

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Are you disliking the new Google Reader, too?  I can't stand it.  I miss the sharing button, not that I did very much of that, but I always knew that I could!  Mostly I hate it because it's white and blinding.  It occurs to me that the people designing this new nightmare have young eyes.  The "updated blogger interface" is the same way, which I don't use because I can't stand the excessive white space.  Who do you complain to?  

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Normally, or Last Week, I would've just clicked the Share button on this one, but even then you might not see it or click over.  You should, though.  Go read what Elizabeth has to say about children growing up.  Sometimes I feel like such a failure, and I have to remind myself that my job is to do God's will for myself.  My children have to follow their own path and use the free will that God gave them.  I might not like how they use it, but that's not my choice, and it doesn't reflect on my parenting the way I think it does.


I'll keep telling myself that, and I'll keep praying!

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For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Whew!

Halloween and All Saints, all done!  The party last night was fun.  I was very, very stressed by the time I got there, but we managed to fill in the last few gaps with games and prizes.  I relaxed as I realized that most of the pressure was coming from myself and not others' expectations of me!  The kids had a lot of fun, as usual, with the games.  There were long lines to play!

These are just a few of the games---mainly the ones I was responsible for providing!

St. Cecelia's Musical Mystery/Cake Walk

My St. Agnes---next year I may need to make her a new costume!

Bl. JP II running the bingo game.

Pinning the halo on our favorite new saint.

St. Nicholas's Coin Toss

I got to visit with some of my friends as I made the rounds, making sure the teens were staffing the games and not just taking over playing them.  One very popular new attraction was the St. Nicholas Coin Toss that I got from Charlotte---the boys just loooved slamming those bags of gold up against the wall and watching them drop into the chimney!

We said our family prayers when we got home, and I took the advice of a grocery-store cashier:  I took an hour-long hot bath with a large glass of wine and a book!  It was awesome!

Obligatory Halloween Post

Our Sunday dessert were Candy Corn Cupcakes which we whipped up out of the box of coconut cake.  The lighting is terrible and somone pointed out on FB that they look radioactive!  They were yummy, though.  Everyone thought the orange-flavored buttercream was genius!

I post this bad picture, of cupcake and Katie, because I want you to see it and her black fingernails with spiderwebs.   She's so creative!

Pip went out as Mojo Jojo from the Powerpuff Girls.  He made his hat out of posterboard and duck tape (white and silver).  The cape is an old, purple, crushed velvet maternity top that I turned into a cape.  I don't know why it came out royal blue in the photo!

The pumpkin: They did a great job on the creative aspect, not to mention the execution.  Katie thinks the little pumpkin being eaten looks bored, not scared.  

Meg went as Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls.  Her BFF went as the one in green, whose name slips my mind.  I made both of their costumes, and I wanted to make a mask of the big eyeballs, but they weren't into it.  So they were very simple.  Fine by me!

Pip and his cohort went to every house in the neighborhood, as usual.  He even dropped off his first pillowcase halfway through and pick up another!  Meg had about half as much, most of which she put in the "Do Not Like" pile.  :-)

We made up a few "movie theater bags" for special events, and I'll let them eat it at certain times for a couple of days, and then we'll get rid of the rest.  Thank God the days of 4-5 kids trick-or-treating are over!  I remember one year with a laundry basket full of candy!

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Now, it's on to the real feast:  All Saints Day!  I was running around, printing, laminating, and generally planning party games yesterday.  Let's pray that we have all we need!  I'm very thankful for all those wonderful bloggers that post their pics and their ideas every year!