Sunday's Child Is Full of Grace

The beautiful Layla Amelie entered the world at 4:23am, September 28, 2008. She weighed in at 8 lbs 1.6 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Gorgeous little Layla has her mommy's fingers & toes and her daddy's ears. She's looks so much like her mommy and aunts when they were born!

The birth was incredible. Being able to be present was the most wonderful gift I have ever been given in my entire life.

Seeing Layla in her mommy's arms and that unmistakable recognition in her eyes, "This is MY mommy!" The tender look in my daughter's eyes as she cradles her newborn made me melt. Little Layla was so very alert - she *knew* her daddy's voice and was craning her neck around to search him out.

I'm so tired - although not as tired as my daughter who did all the work! - and I need to get some sleep. We're all just in awe right now. Such a miracle, such a wonder, such a blessing from God.

about that debate

Watching the debate last night, I was in amazement that anyone could find Obama as a suitable candidate for president. I honestly was trying to look at it with as much of a non-partisan eye as possible. Originally, I wasn't fond of either candidate...I wanted Mike Huckabee to get in there! Anyhow, Obama stammered and scrambled his way through the debate whilst McCain held command of every conversation. Obama came off like an ignorant schoolboy.

I'm still amazed that he keeps trying to spin the thing of McCain giving "tax breaks to big corporations" as if it is bad. As McCain explained yet again, it's simple economics. You make it worthwhile for companies to stay here and keep the jobs here; if you don't, they will take those jobs overseas where they get the breaks. Doing that *helps* Americans by keeping jobs home. They do it in localaities all across our country. Just north of me, in the town where my husband works, they have attracted scores of companies and made several huge industrial parks. How? By offering tax breaks!

McCain presented himself as a seasoned and well-versed candidate, one who appeared very presidential. Obama appeared...political. For the most part, he didn't present real information regarding the "how" of any of his plans, just a bunch of pretty talk (when he could manage to get the words out smoothly). He showed no real knowledge or experience in military matters or in foreign relations ("I would 'take out' Pakistan," for instance). He showed no economic understanding. He could not and did not even try to explain his pork-filled "plan." I also felt that Obama was RUDE to keep calling McCain "John" instead of "Senator McCain" as was proper in that situation. He didn't realize his goof until the second half of the debate when he finally corrected his lack of courtesy. I felt that he was trying to appear condescending in the only way he could since he was facing superior knowledge and experience.

I was seriously shocked hearing that commentators at CNN were mocking McCain's speech and mannerisms while their golden boy was going, "Uhh, uhhh, uhhhh, uuhhh" every time his mouth opened. And once he got the words going, he was still stammering over them. It was pathetic.

What I think I enjoyed most was that after McCain spoke Obama kept saying himself that John McCain was RIGHT.

Fungus Among Us

I walked with Jenna this morning (I think she's in early labor, she was very crampy feeling). We saw this big fungus ball thing on the side of the road. The picture does not do justice to how big this thing was; it was the size of a slightly deflated volleyball. In other words, HUGE. I'm not sure if it was the puffball sort. I certainly wasn't going to step on it and send spores flying just to find out. There was also a softball sized one nearby.

This morning I tormented still sleepy Erin and Rhianna as they began their school work wrapped in blankets. I'm not putting the heat on until mid-late October unless it snows! And yes, that is an artificial Christmas tree in the background beside the over-stuffed bookshelves. We used it for background for the plays at VBS and then hung a Ringmaster guy that I picked up at Arabica Coffee House on it. It is our "seasonal" tree.


Yesterday at the graveyard, Rhianna had Jenna take this picture so she could send it to her boyfriend who is away at college. She's going to homecoming with friends and wanted him to know that the only guys she's in contact with are cold and lifeless to her. :) This particular monument is rather eerie in the twilight. The statue appears to be gliding down the steps. Very ethereal, which I'm sure it was meant to be.

Men and Food

In reading Tosca Reno's new expanded edition of the Eat Clean Diet, I found the new chapter, "Men Can Eat Clean, Too." She feels, through her experiences, that most men don't make as much of a fuss about food as women and generally eat what is placed before them at home and what is "easiest" when out of the home. I think the idea might be that women reading the chapter should feel comfortable changing the household fare to cleaner meals because "Someone prepares the food in question, puts it on a plate and sets in in front of said man. The food is consumed, the meal is over and that is the end of it."

Not at this household. I try to serve healthy meals and Pat is used to it. He may eat the meal, but he'll be sneaking around the kitchen at 10pm frying up some greasy concoction to "make up" for whatever he had to suffer through. Should I dare serve something out of the ordinary, a quinoa casserole perhaps, he will suddenly be "too tired to eat" and will "have some later." Later never comes for the food exotic to his palate, but later does come for a dripping cheeseburger cooked after I am in bed. This has been going on for decades.

Long, long ago when we were first married...Pat would run with me and go to the gym with me. He would also seemingly happily eat the healthy fare that I set before him. Little did I know that he was stopping at his mom's house daily to fill up on the daily fried feasts he was accustomed to before heading home. I later heard from a relative that she thought I was "starving her poor boy."

I just can't agree with the idea that if you serve it they will eat it. If they've been conditioned for years to eat slime and filth, they will crave that slime and filth. They will need to embrace clean eating of their own accord. Either the waist band will have to get too tight or the doctor's report be too frightening before some men will ever adopt a healthier eating lifestyle. Some might even require alien inhabitation of their bodies!

Most of the chapter is very good though - convincing men that they can start eating clean and that their health depends on it. She brings up that it was male body builders who first introduced the concept of clean-eating and avoiding processed foods, at a time when processed foods were becoming marketing favorites. She likens cleaning eating to high octane fuel for a treasured vehicle. Thrown in is the perk that clean eating will improve their sexual health.

Review - Great Lakes Theater Company Macbeth

I had the privilege of seeing the very first performance of this classic in the newly renovated Hanna Theater. Dougfred Miller was superb in the title role of Macbeth. The character at first "to full of the milk of human kindness" (yet able to split the foe from chaps to nave) is transformed before our eyes into the hardened man who believes himself invincible. Miller is amazing as Macbeth evolves from loyal subject to bloodthirsty scourge. Laura Pernotta plays Lady Macbeth as a seductress, tempting and cajoling her husband into forcing the witches predictions into being. This is the first time I've seen Lady Macbeth played this way, usually she is done as a shrew who shames her husband into slaying Duncan.

The witches were used more fully than in any production I have seen. The costuming was fabulous, giving them a look that was part bat (or bird), part mime. The results was eerie. Combined with the war-like beating drums and gongs, it was truly unearthly.

The casting of Banquo and Macduff were also right on. These men (Lynn Robert Berg and David Anthony Smith, respectively) gave commanding performances - and were spectacular in the sword-fighting scenes.

Scenic designer Gage Williams is SUBLIME. This guy is incredible. I want his job! I would love, love, love to apprentice with someone like this. It would be a dream job. The beautiful metaphor of red ribbon for blood added color and an intensity to the drama.

Particularly great scene: When Banquo's ghost shows up at the banquet, driving Macbeth nutty.

Kudos: To the porter - he does a great job providing the comic relief. :) Who did his hair? lol

Only glitches: There were a couple of scenes that we just didn't see. The witches talking about the sailor whose boat they hit with a tempest because his wife refused one chestnuts. Not sure if they did away with that one entirely or just ditched it for this matinee performance. Also, the part of Malcom - while the actor did a very good job (Phil Carroll), he seemed to young and "pretty" for the part. It didn't surprise me to learn that he plays the part of Rapunzel's prince in "Into the Woods."

Tuesday Ten 9.23.08

1. We're going to see Macbeth today!

2. I need to write a review of the Eat Clean Diet Expanded Edition. It has some great additions and a chapter on men that cracked me up. (I don't think it was supposed to). One thing about it that was great: new gluten-free meal planning and shopping lists.

3. The latest issue of Allure magazine is full of little samples.

4. Every month they follow three women who are supposedly getting a total makeover...mostly losing weight and making over their exercise/eating habits. Every year the first couple of months are okay and the rest of the year they stop losing weight and get lazy. Usually there are no amazing successes. It is happening again. I think they need to hire better trainers and work more on motivating these women to CHANGE.

5. You always hear about gradual changes and baby-steps for getting fit. Most of the time I don't buy it. Sometimes it is absolutely necessary to do a complete 180, realize that what you're currently doing *does not work for health, self-esteem, beauty* and CHANGE. They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit - and that 21 days can be brutal, especially if you're going to revamp your life. I would far rather see someone take a plunge, start getting radical changes that will really inspire them to succeed, then take baby steps that often never turn into running leaps...and seem to generally lead to failure.

6. That's how they succeed on the Biggest Loser. Radical change. I can't tell you how many kids I've seen go off to join the Armed Forces and also experience radical change - change that lasts and lasts.

7. I loved this quote about the damage done by tanning and tanning beds from Jean Krutmann, director of the Institute for Environmental Health Research at Heinrich Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany. He pointed out that while people go to tanning salons with the intent to look better, "What you end up with is more wrinkles. So you don't increase but decrease your own beauty by doing that."

8. And that is seriously true. Recently I've seen girls as young as 20 with wrinkles and leathery skin. I've said it before...being tan does not make you look prettier...it just makes you look darker. It does not make you look thinner...just the same size tan. What it *does* do is make your skin look dry, damaged and highlight every fine line and wrinkle. Add smoking to that and you have DISASTER.

9. Back to something I mentioned weeks ago, Clairol's Perfect Ten hair color. Allure magazine reviewed it again and gave it a nod as one of the best new innovations. No crazy minerals or anything. Hair chemists are excited about this one because it is a dye with a lower Ph which leaves the protective lipid layer of the hair intact and allows the product not to smell awful like regular hair dyes. Hydrogen peroxide is combined with ammonium carbonate that creates a molecule that changes the hair pigment while leaving keratin intact. Glycine, a natural amino acid that functions as an antioxidant was also added - this challenges free radicals created in the dyeing process which can damage hair, adding further protection. I've been using this stuff for a few months now and must say that my hair is MUCH healthier and much softer. It takes only 10 minutes but for resistant greys Clairol suggests 15 minutes. Sure beats 25 - 40 minutes, smelly dye and major damage!

10. Back to...we're going to see Macbeth! I need to finish getting ready.

When our actions do not,
Our fears do make us traitors.

• Lady Macduff

a different sort of cattiness

The evil Virginia isn't quite so evil any more. Since Camille moved out, she's been ecstatically happy and it shows. While she spends most the day napping leisurely in the best spots, she does have another favorite activity.

Virginia perches on this part of the kitchen counter every evening when it becomes dark outside. She then waits eagerly for cars to drive past, I think on the next street over. A reflection of that light causes window-pane shaped light to dance across the wall near the counter. She likes to attack it. I should say she *lives* to attack it. I used to have a calendar hanging on the wall and when she would stare at it during the day, we thought she was obsessed with the animal pictured thereon. However, when the month changed and new wildlife was up for viewing, Virginia still stared at it just as intently. There is no longer a calendar hanging in that spot. She ripped it down while attacking the light.

In the morning, after a long night of waiting and light-chasing. she is in the mood for affection. When Virginia wants attention, she is not to be denied. Try to move past her and she will swat...and her claws will be out. Last week she wanted Moogie to accept some attention from her and when he backed away from her loving rub and tail-swish, she turned and went after him, swatting and hissing the whole way, thoroughly enjoying it as he ran from the room.

She's gotten obnoxious in the morning. She wants to see every part of my breakfast making. I've been trying to get out of my protein shake every day rut and get up a little early to make egg white omelets, etc. Virginia won't stay out of my way. No matter how many times I remove her from the counter, she's right back trying to look into my dish or cup, taste my coffee (she loves coffee), find out what is in the cabinet I am opening and if she can sneak in.

Camille was the math cat. Whenever we started to work on math, Camille would come from out of no where to lounge across the math books and beg to be pet...with pencils. Preferably mechanical pencils. She didn't really like to be pet unless it was with a writing implement. Not sure why, she was a weird cat (and a bad, stinky cat). Virginia has now taken to coming and sprawling across schoolwork as well - but only for a little while. After a long night of waiting for lights to chase, she is tried and heads off to find a nice, cozy nook to sleep in.

While it does seem like she is becoming a nicer cat, she drew blood from Pat yesterday. She was perched on the banister in the hallway upstairs yesterday afternoon and decided she wanted attention. He pet her for a bit, but then wanted to go take a nap. She got ticked at him for attempting to leave and as he moved past, she reached out and sliced into his hand. When she does things like that we always call Moogie to discipline her. He *loves* that job. He chases her off somewhere to think over the wisdom in whacking humans.

I don't even like cats, but I find myself doing what she wants. I carry her around the kitchen in the morning and we look out the window together for birds. She leans back and kisses my face, all the while purring like an engine.

~o~

Rhianna is exhausted and run down from the youth retreat she attended this weekend. She ended up calling her coach and cancelling her lesson today. We have to make it up tomorrow. She's got a lot of sleep to catch up on. I was glad not to have to go out and sit at the rink for two hours. I have some stuff to do around the house and then I need to run a couple of errands.