Elena 
Here are some items that interested me throughout the blogosphere:
First up, an interesting story on Slate about the high cost of weddings!
But of course no wedding planner is going to play the cynic. And so every exchange you have with wedding planners is coated with a patina of sentimentality—with the pretense that you are dealing in emotions rather than commodities. “Tell me the story of your wedding,” the salespeople say—whether at Vera Wang or at the funky little store downtown where you can get off-the-rack gowns. “Tell me the story,” they say, as though sitting you down for a heart-to-heart. Of course, what they extract is not the story of romance, of how you and your partner met, of what it means to ask your family and friends to witness your public display of private feelings. It is the story of “by the shore” or “at the country club”; fall or spring; black-tie or flip-flops; “strapless” or “empire waist”; of “$$” or “$$$.”
We succumb in part because the real story of a wedding—its central point—has become increasingly obscure, even as the average price of one has soared (to nearly $28,000 in 2006). Weddings today are not the life-changing (and even traumatic) events they once were. Sex is no longer postponed or shrouded in secrecy, nor are the domestic niceties of sharing linens and kitchens new to honeymooners: According to some figures, more than 50 percent of Americans have co-habitated before they get married. It is not clear what is “different” about life post-marriage, other than one’s tax form—and the unnerving prospect of divorce; after all, many of today’s couples are children of divorced parents and know firsthand just how precarious the institution is. So the wedding becomes an exercise in magical thinking: If my teeth are white and my linens match my napkins, he and I will stay in love forever. This is the “impending transformation of [our] inward self” (as Mead puts it) that we’re seeking in the “outward accumulation of stuff.”
I tell all of my pre-cana couples that you can be just as married with fried chicken in the back yard as with fillet Mignon at the country club!
Here was a nice piece written by a non-Catholic on the benefits of NFP.
At our congregation we have a beautiful young Sudanese woman named
Ajulu. Ajulu loves talking about her children and hopes that God will
bless her with many more. On days when her children Ter, Ruon and Deng
are behaving, she even talks of wanting nine. What perplexes Ajulu is
that people in our country have so few children. In her home country,
children are considered as one of the greatest gifts from God.
Children are a vibrant and vital part of the community. These
communities grieve when they cannot conceive. Knowing the sadness that
comes with infertility, the Sudanese community embrace marriage as a
union that is open to life. Where God will grant life, they will
receive it.
There were a couple of great items on homeschooling. This one from Roanoke.com
Home schooling has many benefits, including the flexible scheduling
that allows me to enjoy weekly lunches with my grandchildren, so it’s no wonder
more and more parents are opting to make the sacrifices necessary to home school their children. But one significant benefit to home schooling, and one of the
reasons many parents make the choice, may surprise you. It’s the socialization.
Yes, I do mean socialization. Far from being a drawback to home schooling, as the myth would have it, socialization is actually one of home schooling’s greatest virtues. Like their public school counterparts, home school students have plenty of opportunities to mingle with their peers. They belong to organizations like Boy Scouts and 4-H. They participate in sports. And many are involved in church youth activities and volunteer work.
But unlike public school students, who spend the greater part of each day almost
exclusively in the company of people their own age, home school students, whose
days are often spent in the company of people of various ages, are less likely
to depend on their peers for validation of their choices and values.
They’re less likely, too, to feel the need to conform to popular clothing styles and
other youthful fads. And they’re way less likely to have to deal with the
bullying and teasing that characterize much of playground and classroom
interaction between kids.
Anna at Pleasant view Schoolhouse had some interesting views on homeschooling that I enjoyed.
Elizabeth over at Real Learning had an enjoyable view as well with her Rule of Six!
Marie at Sweetness and Light gave me some good ideas on the style of Montessori that I might want to try with Rosie!
First Things had a Day in the Life type of article from one homeschooling family. And I found it through Bonnie at Intellectuelle!
Meredith B gives us information on the myths of circumcision. Of my four sons only my first was circumcised. I was surprised that it was NOT the pediatrician or pediatric resident who did the circumcisions, but the OB! Fortunately this OB only took a little off the top (so to speak) and my oldest has in fact fooled other doctors into believing that he was NOT circumcised. So as a baby he had all the discomfort of a circumcision with none of the supposed benefit. After that we just didn’t circumcise any of the rest of them. We never did anything special with any of them and there have not been any problems at all. I will say though that I have a girl friend who was meticulous about retracting the foreskin and doing a thorough cleaning. Her boys developed infections later in childhood and ended up having circumcisions then. So go figure.
I loved this story from Ian about the van that served his family for 17 years with only 300,000 miles on it! Our van has only 200,000 + on it and we’ve only had it about 9 years. So we have lots of time left!
On the same topic, Blogging Away Debt linked to an interesting discussion on what to do after the credit cards are aid off! Tricia also had some tips for making extra money.
Steve Weber asks if we reported our e-Bay income last year, because eBay and Amazon will probably start reporting it soon! Yep- we reported it!
Problogger had some really funny list of Top 5s on his blog!
Some of my favorites had to do with blogging here, here and here.
Dave Armstrong has a heated discussion in support of lay apologetics. If you haven’t checked out Dave’s FREE e-book you really should. It’s in my left side bar and I have been reading it between soccer games and practices!
Speaking of apologetics, I got a giggle out of Amanda, who recently posted her curriculum choices complete with Cathy Duffy science. Cathy Duffy is a famous homeschool curriculum reviewer. She is also converted to Catholicism a few years ago!.
And on a very happy note, after seven miscarriages Jen over at Perfect Work welcomes her daughter Bronwyn Therese into the world this morning! Well done!
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