A Catholic Life

Thursday, February 2, 2012

I Am a Tomboy

Imagine my shock when my boys told me I was a tomboy! I protested. Then they reminded me, "Mom, you were in the Army." Oh, yeah, I see your point. This conversation began because I was telling them how excited I am that our pigs will be arriving soon. I love dissection!

I have such fond memories of dissecting things in high school. I was fortunate to have biology I and Biology II (Medical Life Science). Through these courses, we dissected a worm, a fetal pig, a cat, a dog (it had been put to sleep and donated to the class) and a fetal horse. In college, we also dissected things and one of the experiments I remember most was done on a live turtle-- we poured digitalis and caffeine on his heart and recorded the effects. What's not exciting about these things? Matthew thinks he can use the "It will take me from my REAL school work" line to get out of participating in dissection. It won't work!

The boys think only tomboys like to dissect things. I disagree. I'm only PART tomboy. I balance it with all my cooking, baking and gardening, right? I wear skirts to Mass. I don't wear make-up often at all and I think that goes with embracing my natural feminine side.

Creative Minority Report: This Video Will Make Your Catholic Blood Boil

See the BHO administration defend its decision to force the Catholic Church to cover contraception and abortion drugs in the HHS mandate.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Komen Still Doesn't Acknowledge Abortion-Breast Cancer Link | LifeNews.com

Komen Still Doesn't Acknowledge Abortion-Breast Cancer Link | LifeNews.com

Been saying this all morning! SGK cut funding to PP because PP is under federal investigation. It still doesn't admit the ABC link. A woman who has an abortion before her first fill term pregnancy increases her risk of breast cancer by 50-90% depending on family history. For statistics and medical articles about the ABC link, see the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute.

World of Coke and Pokes

After poking 4 times, she called in another nurse

The week before last--searching for another spot

We don't always do fun things on our medical trips. This last one, we decided to visit the World of Coke afterward. testing and GA Tech tour. We decided to visit the Coke museum partly because we'd had two weeks of medical "pokies" before and ended up with more! I caved! Sure, they are just needle sticks, but when you are a kid like Joseph who never gets a line in or blood drawn on the first poke, life can seem a bit unfair. We had several four and five pokie days. I still call them pokies. When Joseph was little, that is what he called them and the name stuck. We try to tell the people drawing blood, but they never believe us. These ladies told Joseph that he was going to leak when he drank something on this particular day (above).

Sean is an easy stick. Got him the first try.

The lobby of one medical plaza in Atlanta had some great art work. After our visit, Joseph and I stared at the blown glass art for quite a while. I actually laughed when I realized we'd been having a conversation about the art....that doesn't happen with a 14 year old very often....conversations about art.

The pokies were not fun. I tried to tell the ladies in Atlanta, but was told she could get blood from a turnip. I believe she was humbled by the 4th stick. The glass art shown here is amazing-- we tried to see if we could find any sort of pattern in the rainbow piece. Do you see a pattern? The pear is the most unique lighting fixture I have ever seen. It was fun to look at.