More showing off of finished objects. *Updated with yarn info!

The Seven Sundays of St. Joseph...

...begin this coming Sunday, January 30.

Just as I believe that any physical exercise I do just doesn't count, as in, "If I can do it, it can't be considered a workout," I also don't really credit any praying or devotion I have as "real" prayer.

Tuesday Links: Shelves and doing it by myself!

On my seriously lackadaisical feature "Tuesday Links" I try to share with  you some interesting things I encounter on the web along with my thoughts, such as they are.

I have already talked about that controversial substance, homemade playdough (to add further fuel, I'll just say that I see no point in buying the stuff), so this is not about that delicate topic per se, but more about the broader idea of setting up your mind and your home to allow your growing children to do things by themselves!

But in a way that doesn't make you insane.

Sew Liberated

Today let's visit Meg at Sew Liberated.

Finished objects, knitted.

Last year I promised myself I would learn to knit.

Partly I was obsessed with the prospect of holding the wool and the needles in my hands -- a sort of tactile mania, like when you know there is a bowl of dark chocolate M&Ms sitting there and you can just feel them crunching in your mouth...only less bad for you. (Why does my mother buy those things? In her mind, dark chocolate = medicinal. But is she eating them? Not that I can tell...)

A cap of my own odd design using leftover sock wool.

After fortifying myself with some dark chocolate M&Ms....

...I'm back to talk about washcloths, sponges, and towels.

Your passion is fabulous.

The things you clean with should be cleaner than the things you clean!

The title pretty much says it all.



However, I will enlarge on the theme, and all of you who just can't believe that I could have a long post about sponges and washcloths can come back later.

It's just that sometimes when I've gone to a place you've never even heard of and visited a random person whom none of you knows and I go to wipe their counter, I find myself wondering if the things (sponges, towels, rags) are clean enough.

Prayer.

What about prayer?

Recently I've been thinking about how there are some things that seem like you can really be an expert on, but the proof is in the pudding.

Do you love to see baptismal gowns?

Apparently I have no perspective on baby pictures.

So if you are on this ride for kitchen cleanup, sorry about the wait! I have to show you some more baby thoughts. I've decided that my babbling is in the photos. It would be unseemly for me to voice my thoughts. I refrain, for the most part. Sort of.

 

Tomorrow is the baby's baptism. I wish I could be there! His little body is so very cuddly. The smell of his hair is so very delicious. He loves my kisses, I just know it! He misses me!

In which I babble about babies...

 Just like every New Year, I've given up complaining for good, but let me just say that air travel is not my favorite, nor am I very good at it.

{Obedience and Delight.}

Just a note to say that I took down yesterday's post because in my poor attempt to connect ideas I garbled a very important one, which is the one we find at the heart of faith: to hold fast to the truth but to judge no one.

I don't judge, I try not to judge, I don't even judge myself for my failures because why should I be surprised? But avoiding the appearance of judging was too much for me. I shouldn't have even tried, because in trying, I conveyed the opposite of what I was aiming for and hurt someone I love.

Another time I will try to get back to explaining what I was talking about in general. For now, I just ask forgiveness and a little prayer.

Baby baby.

Oh, there must be pictures! These are all taken by Rosie and Philip, because I'm not there but rather here, jumping out of my skin in anticipation of going there and getting this little bundle in my very own arms.

Thanks for all the wonderful well wishes you kind people have left! I knew you would want more information -- sorry for being tardy. Photos are really the delight and bane of existence, aren't they? I can't wait to see them, but downloading and uploading and printing and organizing, ai-yi-yi.

Philip Edward Turner, "property of US Navy", 8lbs 4oz, 21"