I'm Getting Braver

Last night, I told Nan that we will be homeschooling the kids. I have been putting off telling her because I was afraid we would fight about it. Actually, she took it really well. She wanted to know if it was legal - she thought I would need to get permission from the state. Her biggest concern was "it's so hard to keep up with the new technologies and math". I told her I keep up with those things for fun - it's only housework that I have a hard time keeping up with (her specialty). All in all, I am glad she finally knows because now she has some time to get used to the idea. It also pretty well cements the idea in Lee's head that we are doing it - though he ay still insist on doing Cyber school rather than doing it ourself. I am willing to compromise in that way if I have to - so much better than sending them away.




Yes, that's right. I made a Tofu lasagna. And it was good, darnit. Why tofu? Because life is short and I want to try everything :)


Miss Livvy will be potty trained by the end of the month. We have been working on her for about two weeks. She wants to be a big girl - it is time. I am ready for a break from diapers, anyway. Here her royal highness is showing off the fact that she decapitated one of my peonies. Nice, Liv.


I love Boo.

We are now in countdown mode to the beach. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. Some married couples fight less when they see each other less - less time to fight, they say. Well, this does not hold true for Lee and I. We always have just enough time to fight. What helps us stay solid is nice blocks of time together - on a vacation we are like kids in love. It's great. The last real trip to the beach was before Boo was born - I was actually pregnant. Lee was throwing me into the water. It was so romantic :> :> Anyway, I just can't wait.

We watched a movie called Deja Vu. It's not for kids, but I think Daddy would enjoy it. I'm not going to say what its about because it would give too much away, but its a real thinking movie. It also scared me to death the whole way through. We ended up staying up until 3 am bickering about the nature of existence. We have a hard time having metaphysical discussions without fighting. Lee is so interested is thinking about what might be and what could be that he will play the devil's advocate for almost anything scientific - and I am such an absolutist that if something sounds like it goes against my established worldview I get stubborn and refuse to play along. We drive each other nuts. He ends up thinking I'm stubborn and I think he's insane! Oh, but where was I? The movie was really, really thought-provoking and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. I am going to watch it again to look for clues that I might have missed the first time.


I bought a beautiful crucifix necklace from work. I've been wanting one for awhile. But I run into people at work who are strongly against crucifixes - they think it is a shame to show Jesus in his saddest hour when He has risen and is triumphant. I know that if I decide to wear it to work, I will catch some heck for it from somebody, so I decided to practice my apologetics on Lee - he is a good, honest sounding board. He is open-minded enough to listen to what I have to say, but anti-everything enough to come up with all the objections. Plus I know he will love me even if I sound stupid or can't come up with a good defense - and he likes to talk about serious stuff. I know I can always try again later if I come up with something better. I told him the most common objection (aside from "it's Catholic, so we don't like it, which is never actually stated, just implied") is that Jesus is no longer on the cross, so we shouldn't portray Him there. Lee said he agreed with that. I came back with my easy answer.

"Jesus is no longer in the manger, but we still portray him in Nativity scenes." That didn't work for Lee, he said he didn't care about Nativity scenes, as he doesn't have any - apparently they are all mine. Well, good. I like them.

"Okay," I said, "think about it this way. We have pictures of some of the great battles in history, even though they have been won and are over. We show pictures of soldiers fighting and dying, to commemorate and even celebrate their bravery and their strength. Jesus fought the ultimate battle on the cross - the battle between good and evil. He won. So why wouldn't we commemorate His battle, too?"

If you know Lee at all, you can probably guess that this worked. He started to argue, then stopped mid-sentence. "No - that works. You've convinced me. I get it. It's like the mural of Gettysburg."

So I guess he's not insane after all :) I might still be stubborn, though.