Day Six: France

Interesting fact about France: According to a 2004 IFOP survey, 44% of French people are Atheists (up by 24% since 1947).(eupedia.com)

Day Five: China

I haven't had much time for blogging today, but today's country was China.

Day Four: Portugal

Today's country is Portugal.

Interesting fact: Due to the influence of Roman Catholicism, Portugal is one of the most socially conservative countries in Europe. Abortion was only legalized through a referendum in 2007, causing much controversy. A Catholic priest vowed to excommunicate all people voting in favor of legalizing abortion.(eupedia.com)

Personally, I think it's sad that only one priest had the courage to stand up for doctrine. It's terrible, the times we live in.

Day Three: South Africa

Interesting fact about South Africa: The world's first human-to-human heart transplant was performed in South Africa in 1967 by South African Dr. Christiaan Barnard.

Day Two: Chad

The globe I'm using belonged to my grandmother, so when my finger landed on "Equatorial French Africa" I had to look up a modern map to figure out what country it was today. Today's country is Chad.

For those who don't know, Chad is a country in north-central Africa. Industries of Chad include: oil, cotton textiles, meatpacking, beer brewing, natron (sodium carbonate), soap, cigarettes, and construction materials.

Chad is in turmoil right now, as rebels are trying to overthrow the government. Tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing the country to escape the violence.

Day One: Canada

I chose today's country by closing my eyes, spinning a globe of the world, and stopping it with my finger. It landed on Canada. Now that I think of it, the odds of hitting Canada and Russia are awfully big using that method, but that doesn't mean they don't need prayers. So, throughout the day today, I shall send up prayers for the people of Canada.

Interesting Fact: Canada's highest temperature, 45 degrees C (113 degrees F), was recorded at Midale, Saskatchewan. The lowest temperature was minus 63 degrees C (minus 81 degrees F) measured at Snag, Yukon Territory.

Lenten Prayer Project

Dear Reader, I wanted to do something different for Lent this year. I've decided to pray for a different country every day from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. I'll pick a country at random, and pray for it throughout the day. I'll try to learn something about each country so that each day will also be a learning experience.

This project may require daily posting, something I've never really attempted. :)

It all starts tomorrow. Feel free to join in with prayers or suggested countries.

Lent

Dear Reader, Ash Wednesday comes early this year. It wasn't hard to decide what I would give up for Lent, but it will be hard to do without it. I'm giving up caffeine. That means no chocolate, no Pepsi, and no coffee. I practically live on coffee these days. Not to keep me awake, but to keep me warm. Hot coffee on a cold day is wonderful. I drink it pretty much all day, or at least all morning.

This year will be tough.

Adventures in Parenting

My five-year-old daughter has managed to get her winter boots completely soaked, something I realized as she was going out the door this morning to get on the bus. I'm trying to figure out how to dry the boots before tomorrow. Meanwhile, she's wearing another pair of boots, also soaked, but hopefully not quite as much.

Fifteen minutes under a hair dryer didn't seem to help. Right now they're propped up on the heat register, which I already know does a fair job with drying soaked mittens. I guess I'll try leaving them there for a few hours and see if that helps.

Meanwhile, I'm still searching for the tennis shoe she lost over the weekend.

Resolution

Dear Reader,

Last year's New Year's Resolutions didn't go so well. This year, I have only one: to save money. I'm not going to waste any money this year. I'm hoping that I can get myself into the habit of saving, because that would be very beneficial for the future. Here's hoping I have better luck this year.

Law School

Earlier this year, I had an epiphany of sorts. Up until then, I'd been resigned to the life I have, not really thinking about doing anything different, and feeling kinda old. Then one day I realized I'm only 24 years old. I'm still young. I still have my whole life ahead of me. People my age are still going to school.

That got me thinking about how much I liked college, and how long it would take me to finish my degrees. And then I started thinking about something that I've thought about off and on over the years only to dismiss it as something I didn't really want to do. I was thinking about going to law school.

I've always liked the law, and I love lawyer shows(yes, I know they're not real). The one thing that always kept me from seriously considering pursuit of a law degree was the courtroom. It would be a constant battle against performance anxiety.

However, this didn't seem such an obstacle this summer, when I was thinking about it again. I sent for an updated transcript and course evaluation from my school. I'll need two full semesters to graduate with my double major. They don't have a pre-law program, so I would have to find another school.

Enter problem #1: travel. The nearest school with a law program is more than an hour's drive from home. I haven't yet gotten my driver's license.

Problem #2: child care. We have four children. The three oldest are in school full-time, and the youngest just turned two. My mother-in-law would watch her for a reasonable price, but we can't afford that on one income. Also, I would miss the angel terribly.

And problem #3: We might decide to have another baby. We've been talking around it for awhile now. I get terrible morning sickness that would interfere with studying, and I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving a newborn with a babysitter(not even Grandma). That last part would depend upon timing, as I can take courses online to finish my degrees, which I want to do rather than transfer and face losing credits.

So I decided to wait it out, and see if this was a passing fancy. Here after several months, and one awkward conversation with my husband about it, for some odd reason, I find myself still wanting to be a lawyer.

I'm not sure what to do about it now, because it's a most inconvenient path to take at the moment. Perhaps I should stick with writing, and settle for writing about lawyers. I really don't know. I welcome advice from anyone who has some to give.

Thursdays

I figured out my least favorite day of the week, and today is it. Thursdays suck. The week's more than half over, but it's still not Friday. The kids had a short night due to religious education classes. I have no more patience than the sleepy, whimpering five-year-old who can't remember how to dress herself. There's nothing good on television tonight. Oh, and it's -7 degree this morning, which doesn't help at all. Thursday is the worst day of my week.

Late Night Television

The beauty of late night comedy is that by the time it's on, you're so tired, everything is funny. Conan O'Brien can keep me in stitches when I'm exhausted.

Misadventures in Cooking

Dear Reader, I made macaroni salad today. I forgot to make sure the macaroni was cool before mixing. The result was half-melted cubes of cheddar cheese. The salad still tastes delicious, but it's a bit stringy. I highly recommend following the directions when cooking, even if you've made something a thousand times.

New Appliance

My new carpet cleaner arrived today. This is what I got. Not a very good picture, I know. It was the best one I could find.

I know just where to try it out. The carpet in the downstairs hallway is in desperate need of cleaning. It's really too bad I got this just in time for the weekend. I probably can't use it until Tuesday, when the kids go back to school, or they'll be walking all over the wet carpet.

Snow

It's snowing! This isn't the first snow, but it's still kinda exciting.

Patience

Is it normal to have less patience as you get older? I've gotten to the point where I can't stand to sit in one place for too long at one thing. Case in point: I used to love jigsaw puzzles, but the last two times I attempted to put one together, I got bored with it, and had to put it away.

I can't seem to sit through an entire movie, either. They take up so much time, and I keep thinking about all the things that I need to be doing, and how late it's getting. I don't go to the theater more than once a year, so most of my movie viewing is at home.

I think I can still read for hours at a time, and maybe write too if I'm on a roll, but anything else gets boring fast. I don't know if this is good or bad. On the one hand, I get more exercise when I go from task to task. But I don't like the short attention span. I'll have to think about this more later because I have things to do.

Forgotten Blog

After my driving test failure, I haven't felt much like updating this blog. Nothing much has happened anyway. I'm still writing. I'm closing in on 168,000 words. I'm fairly certain I'll break 200,000 before the story is finished. I can't imagine what I'll write next. After putting two or so years into one story, I'll have to start another one, or I'm apt to feel lost. Or worse, give in to the temptation to write a sequel. I do have other stories started, so perhaps I'll feel inspired to take up one of those to finish. I'll just have to make sure I create characters I can have fun writing.

Farmer Girl

I got to help a bit with the harvest this week. I was babysitting the hopper to make sure it didn't overflow with corn while the wagon unloaded. I only helped for a few hours while the angel was napping, but it was fun.

Failure

Well, I failed the road test.