A Little Flower Garden

I'm Gorgeous

2009-11-10T16:27:00.002-05:00

But you already knew that.My friends at Georgetown Visitation nominated me for the Gorgeous Blogger Award. So, here's 6 Little Known Facts about fabulous moi:1. I have been too fat and too skinny. (Now I'm just right.)2. I enjoy doing income taxes. I will do yours for free (but do you trust me?)3. I was baptized at home in a bathtub (I didn't know this until last summer)4. I testified in court

I Have a Stalker

2009-11-07T18:09:00.010-05:00

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is following me around.Back in 2006, I got this mysterious stomach problem which has since become so infamous. Of course you all know the story. My doctor said it was just an infection, but it wasn't going away. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to enter the convent on time, so I prayed a novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Voila! The pain disappeared the day

The Little Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe

2009-11-04T13:41:00.002-05:00

should have called a cobbler to build an addition for all her noisy kids. Do you know they still "make" cobblers? There's a cobbler in DC who works out of an operation called "The Cobbler's Bench." Way cute.It's going to take a full week to slap a rubber heel on my Naturalizer's, though. What if I'd broken my shoe that very minute and came to this shop for an emergency fix? I'd would've had to

Little Sisters of the Poor

2009-11-01T18:27:00.008-05:00

I spent part of this weekend in Baltimore, with the Little Sisters of the Poor. They had an All Saints Mass there at Baltimore's newly renovated Basilica (see picture). It especially celebrated their foundress, St. Jeanne Jugan, since the Little Sisters first American foundation was in Baltimore, plus she was just recently canonized. (Interesting side note: the "All Saints Sisters of the Poor"

Fun

2009-10-29T18:07:00.002-05:00

Today I wasted 4 hours online, eventually buying, for no good reason, an awesome vintage hat.Hats used to look ridiculous on me, but since my hair is shorter now, that somehow makes up for my oddly shaped head.Sometimes I think I was born at the wrong time. Wearing hats and gloves makes it easy to be ladylike. Maybe I'll have to start a revolution.

But Where Are the 3 Bears?

2009-10-25T20:03:00.003-05:00

Work was interesting. One of the little boys I was teaching abruptly stopped me in mid-sentence, turned to his mother with wide eyes and announced: "She's Goldilocks!"As the lesson went on, he interjected at various points with "I'm helping Goldilocks!" and "Mom, look, Goldilocks is showing me!"I am a brunette, but I do like porridge. Maybe it was my curls?

I have become grumpy

2009-10-22T11:51:00.004-05:00

in my old age.I found a hold on my account this morning. I owe the University too much money to register for the next semester's classes. But the Pell Grants for poor slobs haven't been distributed yet. And the special loans reserved for people working their way through school haven't been certified. I qualify for both of these, which should bring my bill down to zero. Scandal. Injustice. It's

Betsy's Chair: An Extended Metaphor

2009-10-20T11:08:00.011-05:00

Ahh, Middle East history. Today the professor announced that I was a Palestinian fellan, or peasant woman:"Betsy sits in her chair, working. Her chair is really owned by an absentee land lord, some rich Palestinian with a large collection of chairs. Eventually, the Jewish National Fund comes along and starts advertising really high prices to buy chairs. The absentee land lord sees he can make a

Three Good Things

2009-10-16T13:52:00.004-05:00

1. I just got back from a profession at the Georgetown Visitation. Sr. Mary Roberta's final profession. It was BEAUTIFUL. The Sisters take solmen vows, which differ from simple perpetual vows in a number of ways ...Anyway, it really was lovely. My favorite part of anything is the Litany of the Saints. I entertain myself on these rainy days making my own litanies for different intentions. What a

It's Threshing Season

2009-10-12T10:13:00.005-05:00

When all the professors get out their giant scythes and start hacking off heads in the student population. Mucho grandes reading, middterms and papers are coming due these next three weeks, so posting may be spotty. One thing I needs must mention is the canonisation of St. Jeanne Jugan in Rome, last weekend. She is the foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor, and a patrones of the elderly.

May The Same Be Done For Me

2009-10-07T13:21:00.004-05:00

This morning I went to a funeral. I did not personally know the deceased. He was a homeless man who often attended the 6:30 am daily Mass at St. Stephen the Martyr. Peter was his name. He died, fairly young, from complications of diabetes.It was a sad thing that he died alone, on the streets. But that was not because he was unloved: there were a fair number of people who came to bury him today.

The Truth About Sex

2009-10-06T14:30:00.002-05:00

My bible study group was discussing last week's Mass readings, specifically the parts that had to do with marriage. Somebody asked: what about sex?And I'm glad I was paying attention, because I learned something new: Sex is sacramental. No kidding. When a couple exchanges vows before the altar, they form a marriage bond. But that bond isn't made permanent until it is consummated in sexual

My Brothers, The Cool People

2009-10-04T13:52:00.004-05:00

I was thinking recently: I wish I was more like my brother. Either one, really.The older younger one is a Marine. He has rippling muscles and loves animals. He rides a freaking motorcycle. If he had a cologne line (he wouldn't actually, he's too cool, but pretend for a minute that he did) it'd be called "Essence of Cool."The younger younger one has huge brains. Like, for real. He's a literal

More Stuff Scribbled In My Study Carrel

2009-09-30T13:14:00.004-05:00

So, another economics quiz, another study carrel. More interesting graffiti conversations. In case you missed it, you can see part 1 here.1.Love wins! Reply: But only if you're good looking2. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.Reply: No one does, so they settle for whatever makes a lot of money, which is why they're miserable.3. Jews < Canadian GeeseReply #1: Palestinians < Poisonous

Oh look, red blotchiness

2009-09-28T12:59:00.004-05:00

I am having an allergic reaction to my pencil eraser. I know, I know. You think that such a thing is not possible, but I tell you I have done it.I leaned it on different parts of my face during the Lecture That Time Forgot, and poof! What pretty raised designs. How cool, even my histaminergic system demonstrate the existence of an Intelligent Creator. Some one should come make a quilting pattern.

May You Rest In Peace, Mr. Safire

2009-09-27T15:18:00.011-05:00

From the New York Times obituary:Mr. Safire won his Pulitzer for columns that accused President Jimmy Carter’s budget director, Bert Lance, of shady financial dealings. Mr. Lance resigned, but was acquitted in a trial. He then befriended his accuser. Years later, Mr. Safire called Hillary Clinton a “congenital liar” in print. Mrs. Clinton said she was offended only for her mother’s sake. But a

Ever Notice?

2009-09-26T13:06:00.008-05:00

Ever notice how weird we are when we walk? I'm talking about arm swingage.Why do we swing our arms like that. Why? Are we "pumping" ourselves? Or is it because they're just hanging there, like two limp sausages, and we let them flop around as we stroll along?I was watching people swing their arms this morning, and I kept breaking into giggles and getting looks. Try it, and see if you can do it

Economics Horror

2009-09-22T14:56:00.006-05:00

So, I just finished an economics exam. It was an online, open-notes type of thing. "Don't worry," says my professor, "you have 90 minutes. You should be done far before that."La-dee-dah-dee-dah ...I get to the end of the exam (30 minutes to spare) and go back to check over my answers one last time.!!!!!!Klong!!!!!!!!!!I realize: OymyGawd. I transposed the wrong "unit labor of productivity" number

Georgetown Visitation

2009-09-20T19:48:00.004-05:00

I had a little visit with the Sisters of the Visitation here in DC this evening. It was very nice; Vespers and a lovely dinner. (Or supper, actually.)In case you are unfamiliar, the Sisters run a big, beautiful, top notch preparatory school for girls in Georgetown.The Divine Office, which is chanted in choir, follows melodies composed by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, who is, in liturgical matters, a

Reunion

2009-09-20T10:48:00.009-05:00

I am sort of iffy about reunions. Nostalgia is a sad frame of mind. Last night I had a little reunion with a bunch of City Year people, the excuse being the double birthday party of two fine and fabulous ladies. It was Not Sad at all.And there were dumplings. Yum yum.

Some Cultures Go "Oops."

2009-09-16T09:02:00.006-05:00

"Some people say, this torture is just a cultural thing. Like the rack. All kinds of stretching, da-da, da-da, da-da, things happen." ~My Human Rights & Ethics professor. He's from India. You have to read it with an Apu of Kwik-e-Mart accent.

Scribbled In My Study Carrel

2009-09-13T13:39:00.004-05:00

are different conversations. Someone will write something, and a handful of other graffiti artists will respond. Some of the exchanges are funny, or just interesting. A few of them:1. "The quiet conservative must never fear the angry liberal. There is no need to stay quiet." Someone else wrote in reply: "How wise you are, noisy fascist."2. "Are you there God, it's me, Margaret." In reply: "Hi,

2009-09-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

September 11th Digital Archive

Two Things of Busy

2009-09-11T15:29:00.007-05:00

I had a job interview today at the Smithsonian. They hired me at the end. So now I am going to spend my weekends doing children's programming for their Department of Education. I am in the American Art Museum, which is not on the Mall, but some ways off it near Chinatown ... smack in between St. Mary, Mother of God, the city's original indult parish ... and the MLK branch of the DC public

Things You Didn't Know About Archduke Franz Ferdinand

2009-09-09T13:28:00.011-05:00

You know Archduke Franz Ferdinand was from Austria. You know his assassination was the spark igniting World War I ... ... but did you know, he claimed to be the greatest hunter in the world, having personally killed more than 300,000 animals, which he counted in his diary?Did you know, Franz Ferdinand's chateau, Konopiště, contains the third most valuable collection of hunting guns in all of