Seven Quick Takes vol. 48

Joining the great quick takers at Conversion Diary-Hi Jen!

{one}

 In mothering news this week, it had been a rainy start to the week and by...say Tuesday, I was going around the bend. It had been yet another rainy morning, Luke had destroyed a fan in the basement about 3 minutes after I told him not to touch it, Max wasn't napping and was just being a ball of teething fury, the others were just flying by the seat of all the rest of the misbehaviour. So by noon I decided the rain was just wet and fine to play in and unceremoniously shoved the toddles outside. We have literally acres of lawn and yard for them to play in, vast varieties of dollar store balls and toys to play with, a giant swing set and playhouse and yet...and yet...Max and Luke decide to go under our deck and throw landscape gravel at my new basement windows. For some reason they couldn't hear me yelling from inside the house so I decided to storm out there and give them the what for/crawl under the deck and haul Max out. I tear out the front door, go to turn around the house towards the deck, and slip in the mud landing flat-out in a huge puddle.

It was a fine parenting moment. 

On the bright side I was so happy to not have any neighbours at that moment.

{two}

So we all know Google Reader has decided to pack it in on July 1. So please continue to follow me on whatever you've decided to switch over to. 

I personally really like Feedly, its the best to read on your phone or ipad I find, and it seems like I read a lot of blogs on my phone these days while nursing so its nice for that. I think its got the best customizable settings for display for your feed too which is nice for fellow blog nerds out there. And they've also finally come out with follow buttons for those of you with blogs to make it easier for people to follow you which I appreciate!

{three}

So onto the more depressing news of the week-the Supreme Court decisions. 

I'm not American so I'm probably not as outraged as I could be, and Canada has long lost this particular battle, but I have taken enough government and history courses to understand that a Court decision such as this doesn't just effect "gay marriage" its going to effect a myriad of societal aspects that will only continue to erode what basic morality we have in our culture. I get pretty mad that more people don't understand this. Its yet another reason why a poor education system, AND poor catechesis, has such ill effects. No one is willing to actually think. To follow an argument to its conclusion, to understand how one fundamental part of society effects so much else, to think about facts instead of feelings and what's cool, these are basic principles of logic and thought that don't exist anymore. Our parent's generation and our parent's parent's generation have failed miserably in catechizing Catholics. If Catholics were better informed as a whole there might be a bit more resistance. I think its going to be difficult for us to learn how to be Catholic in a hostile society at large. I already fear how difficult it will be for my children to be Catholic and remain Catholic. Argh, this is so cheery.

{four}

If you haven't had a chance yet to read some articles on the ol' Supreme Court decision o' doom heres some I really thought were spot on:

"How Songs Like Macklemore's "Same Love" Change the Marriage Debate"- A great look into the importance of art in political and societal issues. Really well written.

The Anchoress as usual has the most insightful yet on the mark summation of what's going on and why its important. I think I may have to start her fan club.

And as usual Simcha always has the greatest angle on things, and I'm sure she already has a fan club.

{five}

If you need me this weekend, this long weekend-hey Canada!-I'll be painting. That's what we like to do for fun on our long weekends...paint. But more specifically we're finally painting the basement-yay! Behold:

No, I didn't alter these photos at all, that's the colour our basement has been for the past seven years we've lived here. I like to call it "Soul Killing Beige". I've always ignored the basement because I figured we'd just move soon, but seven years later we're still here and five kids need space dammit! So we have to take drastic measures and paint. 

Ok, this is a super dark photo but you get the gist. Its a light sucking beige that needs to be remedied! We're planning on making this area a tv area, because that's a woodstove in the corner and its very cozy in the winter. My husband wants to get rid of the spare room-or that comfy looking double bed, but I feel attached as if that's the reason people visit us. Is it??

Here's the new room the husband built over the winter. It takes us longer to renovate than to make children... 

We're hoping to put maybe Dom and Luke down here. I'm priming and painting and hopefully decorating this too!

Aren't you glad I did so much "staging" and "cleaning" for these fancy blog pictures? 

We're going to do something serious about toy storage as well, and hopefully have some more bookshelves in here somewhere. That's the end game-we'll see how long it actually takes!

{six}

Ok, my basement may be soul-crushing beige but Dwija's poor laundry room is a step above a war zone! She's clearly going for sainthood as I have no idea how she does laundry for a family of five kids there. I can barely do my laundry for five kids and I have a dryer! I can't get over that she doesn't have a dryer...

But the good news is you can go participate in a blogger-love present that Cari put together in raising some money to finish that laundry room while Dwija does important stuff like grow a whole human being! I know I wished I lived down the street from Dwija so I could pop over and just do her laundry for her, and I'm sure anyone who reads her blog does because she's a sweetheart, so it feels so nice to be able to do a little something to help Dwija out in this tough time.

Also if you're in the giving mood, LifeSite News is in need of donors so that they'll get a big 75K donation! This site runs off donations and I'm sure we all read it at least on a weekly basis so please donate anything as its the number of people who donate that's important not the number of money raised! 

And go tell all your rich friends to do the same! 

{seven}

Its a beautiful long weekend up here for the first time all summer! Its going to be hot, hot, hot! We'll all probably melt because we're so unused to warm temperatures. All the kids are clamouring to go to the lake, so we'll try and appease them somehow while also painting the basement. I think we'll end up taking shifts. Although I can't shift off the breastfeeding. Oh well. I hope everyone has an excellent weekend filled with all the good things of summer! Happy Canada Day!