A question of faith

How should faith or religion be involved in how to raise our delightful 3-year old daughter?

Joe's family is Catholic, though many are not devout, though there is an ex-nun in the family.... Joe spent all 12 years in Catholic private education. I was raised Presbyterian and spent all American (and British) schooling in public education. We've come to an agreement that neither of us fully believe in the tenants of any particular religious doctrine.

Many years ago, I attended the new-member class at the First Unitarian Society in Madison many years ago. I love the principles of Unitarianism. I've always thought any children I'd have would be raised with the strong affirmation of the inherent dignity of all.

We moved to Green Bay in 2001. A completely different community from Madison. It has been difficult to find my place in this community - a democrat, liberal, pro-feminist, pro-choice mother and wife in a republican, conservative and Catholic environment. I've figured out a path - slowly finding souls I can relate to. For some reason, though, I've never attended the GBUU. I've had lots of excuses - "Packer Sunday!" - "the weather is lousy" - "it's not a beautiful building like Appleton's or Madison's". ENOUGH excuses!

So, this is my goal - to attend the GBUU within the month.

Still alive....

Yes, Lana, I'm still alive, though I haven't spent much time blogging as of late. Some reasons:

• Joe went to Las Vegas (or as Maddy calls it "Lost" Vegas) last week.
• Maddy has had a long (6-month) bout with bed-time issues. We've tried EVERYTHING we could think of or read about. Websites were consulted - books were read - issues were discussed with family and other moms ad nauseum. It seems that it was "just a phase". (Knock on wood.) Of the past week, she's been a "very very good girl" getting to bed 4 nights out of 7! Woo Hoo! Exhausting.
• I've recently started an antioxidant nutritional supplement that KICKED MY BUTT. OPC-3 (as it's called) helps rid the body of free radicals, and let me tell you, it's tiring! But, a week later, I do feel better.
  

Those are my excuses, and I'm sticking to them!

What happens when you no longer have a funny bone?

So I found out what happens when you hit your funny bone when you've lost it (or at least when you've had it surgically moved). It still hurts. Owie! It's now bruised and sore. Now you know!

the brisk whirl-wind weekend

We spent 6 hours in the car this weekend driving to and from this FUN place in Tomah. It was the second installment of birthday celebrations - this time for Maddy (Dec 23), Alison (Jan 9), William (Jan21), and myself (Jan 24).

It was nasty cold outside, and got colder as the weekend went on. This morning, it was 13 below in Green Bay - schools were closed - wind chills to be about 25 below. Yikes.

33 Reasons ...

33 Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians are Still Extremely Important

by: Will Sherman

Are Librarians Totally Obsolete?