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Thank you to
Summer and to Shimmer for referring to Mandarin Designs so that I found it.

I was at the Center for Cultural Leadership page this morning, and noticed a link that read:
Response to Doug Phillips' Diatribe. I followed it to see what he would say, and found this, dated Wednesday, January 28, 2004 -

"I won’t be responding publicly to Doug Phillips’s blog diatribe against CCL and me. However, if you are a friend or sympathetic to CCL, please e-mail me...and I’ll send my private response. It is for private consumption only and may not be forwarded or otherwise publicly disclosed."

The reason I was at the CCL site was because of a link to this article-

"The support some have of President Bush is not about rejecting those babies lost in the 1% of abortions performed; it is a pragmatic decision to support the candidate who more supports life over death than the other one."
~Monday, January 26, 2004
Repentance and Politics
David Bahnsen, A Response to RC Sproul, Jr.

Here is a quote by Carmon Friedrich, on another election, which I thought summed up my thoughts pretty well-
"We hear the mantra of pragmatism in every election: "Don't split the vote...vote for the lesser of two evils." Tell me, what business does a Christian have voting for any kind of evil? There is a God, and He is pleased to bless His people when they obey Him. We can follow godly principles and vote for the righteous man, trusting God for the result. Trusting God is the pragmatic as well as the principled approach."

(later in the same post) "[W]eigh all things in the balance of godly principle, not the false scale of pragmatism. Don't ask, "Will it work?" Ask, rather, "Is it right?" Let God worry about the results...He never breaks His campaign promises (II Cor. 1:20)."

(2 Cor 1:20 NKJV) "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us."

Watch the movie. The Meatrix.

Fight the Meatrix. (Factory farms.)

Well, my cape is in the home stretch. I think. The liner is all sewn together, the black outer is all sewn together, now we just need to sew the lining to the outer and hem it up and we'll be done.

Then we need to shorten the lavender dress that I'm planning on wearing in February, and finish up the blue dress I'm wearing this Saturday.

Tonight we're having a ball practice. It should be a lot of fun. I'm planning on taking a bottle of sparkling cider left over from New Years.

'Midway this way of life we're bound upon,
I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
Where the right road was wholly lost and gone.'

~Dante, The Divine Comedy, part one- Hell, Canto I


I just started The Divine Comedy for the first time.

I was on the couch about twenty minutes ago finishing up Cur Deus Homo, when I noticed that my cat, Oreo, was glaring at me in an attempt to force me to feed her. I didn’t want to, though, because I was the only person awake in the house, my mother replenishing our grocery supply, and I’ve watched too many movies about Things that Jump from Behind Bushes and Things that Lurk in Shadows. I have no idea why an assassin would be lurking in my backyard, but I would rather not risk it. You never know.

Therefore, I ignored the cat and resumed my reading.
Now, I ought to explain that in her kittenhood my kitty developed a hatred of waving feet. This was due to the fact that my father would wave his feet, she would attack, and he, due to the protection of socks, would invariably win. Therefore, she hates all evil waving feet. So, I put my foot over the back of the couch and waved it gently too and fro, wondering whether she would come around the couch and attack. She did not. Instead, she startled me by racing up the back of the couch and shooting my foot a malevolent glare before sparing me and gracefully leaping off again.

Thereupon duly humbled, I resumed my reading. It would be hard to beat a cat for putting people in their place.

' “Normal” is a setting found on washing machines. Anyone who tells you different is a manipulator. '
~ Laurence Windham

An interesting website: Apricotpie.com
From the description- "...apricotpie is a gathering of creative writers and thoughtful writing, a place giving homeschool students and graduates together the opportunity to have a voice".

I just discovered that Carmon Friedrich has a Poetry page.

A man wearing a chicken suit robbed a Kroger grocery store last week in Columbus, Ohio.
When I left this browser window open, my dad announced later "Tommy Lee Jones has been arrested for armed robbery." He had me for a second there... :-)
(Allusion to U.S. Marshals, I think...although I suppose I might be mixed up and it could be The Fugitive. One of those, anyway, the one where Tommy Lee Jones' character wears the chicken suit disguise.)
(Thanks to Aggressive Driver for the link.)

Tennis this morning. Not playing over Christmas didn't help my overall level of play, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things again soon.

I finished my drawstring shirt. Yay! My second wearable garment ever. I even made a matching hairtie.
Next in line: the cape. I bought the pattern and the fabric. Now all I have to do is make it!

I picked up the violin a few nights ago for the first time in quite a while. Mom got her cello out and we played 'Rise Again, Ye Lion-Hearted' and some Psalms, including 40 E. It went surprisingly well, but my tone is still very uneven.

I've had the 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World' soundtrack since Christmas, and I have enjoyed it very much.

Someone also loaned me 'Appalachia Waltz' with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor, a while ago, and it was very nice.
I have a gift card to a bookstore/music store someone gave me, so sometime soon maybe I'll be able to go and see if they have it, since they didn't when I went right before Christmas.

Sewing Update

I've always wanted a cape. When I was little I'd put an afghan over my shoulders and pretend it was a flowing cloak. Unfitted sheets work much better for make-believe capes.
To come to my stated subject... today I bought Simplicity pattern 5794, which has three different capes.
I think that a lined cape might be an overly ambitious beginners project, but my dear friend Kit is making one, as are her two sisters and another friend, so I should be able to pick their brains and beg for help when the sewing machine tries to kill me.
The occasion for the capes is a ball in January, although I might wear it (if it works;-) in February.

In other sewing news~
~My drawneck shirt is, I estimate, half done. I need to put the sleeves on. That sounds intimidating, but I tell myself I can always rip out the seam and start over.
~I began a skirt, but I haven't sewn anything yet, just cut out the pattern.

Hopefully today I'll be able to go to the big, dusty, discount fabric store (which is quite an adventure and sells some fabrics by weight) and find cape fabric. The pattern says to use Velvet, Velveteen, Shantung, or Tweeds for the outside, and Satin or Taffeta for the lining. The current plan is to use black Satin for the outside, and polarfleece (colors different for each person) for the inside. This should be interesting.... ;-)