A vent...

My 5 (soon to be 6) year old daughter has a number of special needs.  One of these is something called Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI).  It basically means her eyes themselves are fine, but her brain doesn't process what she sees correctly (a stroke obliterated her occipital lobe, which processes visual input). 
I know most people have no clue what it is.  But I get tired of explaining it sometimes.  I get tired of trying to explain why one moment she may seem totally blind, and another moment you might not even notice she has any visul impairment at all.  But I do it anyway, because I know most people just don't know, and I try to do it politely and cheerfully.

But what I really hate are people who see her struggling with her vision and make comments to me about how I should get her glasses.

Don't you think that if glasses would do her a damn bit of good that I would get them for her?  Do you think there is ANYTHING I would not do for her?  What's the insinuation here?  That I'm neglectful, and either haven't noticed she's visually impaired, or just don't care enough to get it taken care of?  Or that I'm just stupid?  What?  Even worse is when I charitably explain why glasses will do her zero good and people just huff and look at me like I have no clue what I'm talking about.  She's my daughter.  She's been my daughter for nearly 6 year.  I religiously take her to all of her appointments with specialists, including the pediatric opthamologist who sees her every 6 months.  I know what I'm doing, and I really wish strangers would give parents of kids with disabilities the benefit of the doubt.  We know our children.  We know how to care for them.  No matter how well-intentioned someone's unsolicited advice might be, it's just annoying and frustrating.

Tomatoes.

Tomato paste is considerably more difficult to make than you would think.

I'm a bit irritated at how many pounds of tomatoes I just wasted*.

But here's a tip- if the recipe says you can use a fine sieve instead of a food mill, IT'S A LIE.



*Well, not a total waste, I stuck them in the freezer. I'll toss them in a stew or something. Someday when the sight of them doesn't irritate me!

women"priests"

Group says it ordains 3 women Catholic "priests"

The ceremony "is not in compliance with their man-made rules, but it's certainly in compliance with the Roman Catholic ordination rituals because our bishops were ordained by all-male Roman Catholic bishops who are in good standing with the church," as provided by the church's ordination rituals, said Bridget Mary Meehan, the group's spokeswoman.

Oh for Pete's sake! I love how they're trying to trick God into making them priests. And these supposed Bishop's believe in "womenpriests" enough to excommunicate themselves by ordaining them, but not enough to have the guts to stand up and say it. Being anonymous doesn't keep you from getting excommunicated.

Anyway, my internet is going to be off for a bit, so you might not hear from me for awhile!

Arrgh!

I understand that it's upsetting to some Catholics, but people, please- WOMEN WILL NEVER BE PRIESTS.

I have sympathy for those that struggle with this teaching, it's hard to accept when you've grown up in the West, where equal=same. But please, please drop all this nonsense about how "one day the Church will definitely be ordaining women!" It won't. It can't. Not if the Church is who she says it is. And if it does happen, it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that all those nutters were right and she really is the Great Whore.

And why on earth would you want to belong to that?