There Is No Wealth But Life

I am thankful 7/25/2010

By Rae July 25, 2010 Gratitude 3 Comments

For air conditioning. This was already on my list for this week, and then yesterday it stopped working. When we got back home around 10pm it was in the mid-90s, and according to weather.com the overnight low was 81°F. So now I am even more thankful for air conditioning as I anticipate its “soon return.”

For renting. It is quite nice to be able to call someone else to fix things such as broken air conditioners and not have to think about the cost!

For ice cream. This morning I had a frozen fudge bar for breakfast. I comforted myself that it probably was not any worse for me than the sugary cereal that many people eat. And then I told Josh that I was going to have to eat all 20 today in order to get 60 grams of protein and 1800 calories. Not a bad diet for a hot day, right?

Mommy Cards

By Rae July 24, 2010 Funny Thing Is 11 Comments

One of my sisters reported that she was the only stay-at-home mother in a group who did not have mommy calling cards to hand out with her contact information and children’s names.

I told Josh about it in a mygoodnessIknewtherewasareasonthatIdontwanttobeaSAHM sort of way. He responded with a simple “um, Stepford Wives?”

But, as much as I hate the world in which being a mother must be everything for a woman, and thus must be dressed up with faux business cards… they make sense to me. It is a pain to try to write down contact information on random slips of paper while keeping an eye on your children. And it is much easier to figure out which of the ten women you met yesterday you are supposed to call to set up a play-date if you have a card with a picture of the child and mother’s name and contact information on it.

So I am torn. The idea is rather sad, but the mommy card does make a bit of sense in reality.

Would you use them? Do you use them?

What Does Stress Taste Like?

By Rae July 21, 2010 Good to Know 7 Comments
  • Sour, and salty. but extreme on both. mostly rancid. digressus
  • Like the fading aftertaste of dreams wrapped in glitter and bittersweet onions. michaeljwking
  • Cheap, heady red wine with raw tannins and an overt, sickening blush of fruitiness. prestonyancey
  • A bitter penny. But, I think it tastes like sadness too, whatever that tastes like! catholiclady

And this, my friends, is why I love Twitter. If you tweet and I’m not following you, do let me know!

If you are not on Twitter, is it because you do not like to think about things such as the taste of stress?

Roller Coasters: Thrill Rides Without Thrills

By Rae July 2, 2010 Funny Thing Is 13 Comments

If you had asked me a month ago how I felt about roller coasters I would have said that I was not a fan, but did not really know since it had been over ten years since I had been on one. I was pretty sure that I did not like them, but it was possible that they were fine and I just did not know.

Then some friends had extra tickets to Six Flags and insisted that Josh and I join them, despite my protestations that I would be a waste of a ticket.

So I tried The Mind Eraser™ and this is what I learned: roller coasters simply do not work for me. The experience was entirely unpleasant. Since I would have been scared I used my two typical coping mechanisms: logic and prayer. At first I reminded myself that it was highly unlikely that I would be hurt since injuries and fatalities are very bad for business. Then I spent the rest of the ride silently repeating the words which I use to offer God my suffering during any unpleasant experience.

The experience had nothing in common with fun. There was no surge of adrenaline or post-ride high. Afterward I concluded that I had probably ruined the fun with my coping mechanisms.

I never had an I’mgoingtodiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie feeling, so I did not get the rush of lovely hormones and it all seemed miserable and pointless. Why would anyone wait in line for hours for this? I can understand uber-Catholic areas having people in line on their knees waiting for roller coaster rides while praying the rosary, but I do not think that people typically go to amusement parks to do penance.

Do you like roller coasters? Am I just not masochistic enough to enjoy thrill rides, or did I just ruin the fun for myself?

NFP Websites

By Rae June 30, 2010 Links 6 Comments

In a comment Stephen asked “Are there any good websites about NFP?” As I tried to figure out which sorts of websites were best to list, Batrice responded with a few.

Diocese of Charlotte Catholic Social Services
Marquette
NFP Outreach

I would love it if you would comment with your favorite websites/blogs related to NFP/FA and together we can come up with a “best of” list.

NFP and More
Creighton

Please share! What are your favorite NFP/FA websites?

I am thankful 6/27/2010

By Rae June 27, 2010 Gratitude 4 Comments

For an apartment. After almost two months of visiting friends and family and hotel-hopping with Priceline, we finally found a place. And I am so thankful!

For not-a-lot of stuff. “Moving” meant unloading the car, and a leisurely hour of carrying in boxes and bags was about as much work as I felt like doing on a Sunday.

For a crazy patient husband. I know that I am constantly thankful for some version of this, but it is worth repeating. Even I was getting tired of spending so much time in the car or hotel room with me, and Josh was still totally chill.

Gestation and Blood Donation

By Rae June 25, 2010 The Feminine 8 Comments

Josh’s younger sister started dating her now-husband a month or two after Josh and I started dating. She got married less than a year later, decided to drop out of college, and got pregnant right before Josh and I got engaged. I was in no way envious of the speed of her life, but some late nights as I was keenly aware of the meaninglessness of my academic efforts, I was envious of her pregnancy.

After all, at the end of the day if I had read a bit and written five pages, then all I had was five pages of worthless writing. If she did nothing all day, at the end of the day she had a preborn child who was a little bit bigger, a little bit more developed, a little bit more ready for the world.

I would joke with my sister about how I should just “go off and gestate” because what could be more important than that?

I still feel that way at times, even though I am quite confident that gestation is not the meaning of my life, and my value as a person is not based on my fertility.

But there remains a fascination with the concept of simply living, and still accomplishing the great good of giving life to another. So I was quite amused when I realized that my view on blood donation is quite similar to my view of pregnancy. I can sit here typing at my computer and grow red blood cells! And then after a few months I can give them to another person, to help them recover and potentially save a life.

That is pretty cool. Not nearly as exciting as pregnancy, but still very good.

Thinking of donating blood as a process whereby I can daily “grow life” for another is enough to make me never want to miss a chance to donate.

What tricks do you have to make sure that you donate blood whenever you can?

Gross Fertility

By Rae June 24, 2010 Health, Uncategorized 28 Comments

I believe that human fertility is simply wonderful. A woman’s reproductive cycle is a beautiful thing. I am extremely comfortable with my own body and have no qualms reading stories about other’s bodies involving birth, surgery, wounds, etc.

But I always find myself a little repulsed when I encounter someone writing about cervical mucus.

Gross, no?

And unnecessarily so.

The only thing gross about cervical mucus is the term “mucus.” Mucus is nasty snotty stuff associated with mild sickness and two-year-olds in need of having their noses wiped. In fact, I plan to encourage my children to avoid sex by teaching them about “seminal mucus” and “arousal mucus.” That is how gross mucus is.

There is nothing gross about cervical fluid. It is clean. It is an amazing source of life and aid to conception. Cervical fluid is beautiful.

Words matter, and we should try to use them to reflect the fact that a woman’s fertility is beautiful, not disgusting. So why on earth would we call something as amazing as cervical fluid “mucus?”

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