Mary and Martha

Will someone please prove to me that carving pumpkins is pagan, that trick-or-treating is pagan, and that Halloween is a completely pagan holiday that we as Christians are supposed to shun like ... well ... the devil? From my decidedly small understanding of the history of the holiday, it seems that what we call "Halloween" is a distinctly American tradition going all the way back to ... the pilgrims - no further. Besides, if, as everyone seems to be saying, we should avoid Halloween because it dates back to pre-Christian Celtic society and ohmygoshthatzbad!! then shouldn't we do the same for every Christian holiday? Easter? Why, that's Celtic, too. Christmas? Greek and ... other things. Seriously, every holiday celebrated anywhere and at any time can probably be traced back in some way, whether actually or falsely, to an earlier era with which the celebrants would disagree. The point is, we are here , in the now , we are not then, nor there. We are not ancient Celt...

Ahhh! Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate bugs, I hate spiders, I hate beetles, I hate anything that's creepy and crawly and isn't a mammal, reptile, or fish, so imagine how I screamed like a little girl when I opened our silverware drawer and found a TWO INCH LONG cockroach hanging out among the serving spoons. EJ came to my rescue and was about to scoop it into a cup to take outside, but, when he turned back to the drawer the roach was gone. Where did it go?? It's still in my house. I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight, feeling each little twitch as tiny roach legs. *gack!* UPDATE: We found it! At least, I hope the one we found was it. Darn buggers all look the same and I can't handle the thought of a roach infestation in this apartment. The thing was big enough to make audible noises as it crawled across a plastic bag laying on the floor (I do keep a clean apartment, I swear. It didn...

There, I Fixed It There comes a point in one's pursuit of frugality when one must simply sit back, admire one's handiwork, and fend off the police. This seems like it would actually be a good idea. And, hey, if you ever get tired of holding the baby's bottle ...