Et Cetera

I read yesterday that Martin Luther wanted to get rid of the book of James from the Bible because of chapter 2 verses 24 and 26:

"You see that a person is justified by his works and not by faith alone... As the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead."

Obviously this doesn't jibe with his Sola Fida doctrine. *hugs the book of James tightly* But since I'm Catholic I would have had it in a bible eventually anyways. ;) I say eventually because for the first 13 years of my life I was Protestant and might never have known there was an epistle of James (not that I knew what an epistle was till last year. I guess I thought it was something similar to an apostle...)

I went to my friends' birthday party today (some of you may know Hannah and Lainey). 'Twas much fun. :) I was rather singled out by their 3-year-old brother and heard a great deal about his brother's Legos. Some of the conversation was really priceless. He told me about his father's many tools and cool garage. "Does your daddy do cool stuff?" he asked me. "My daddy plays guitar," I said, smiling. "My daddy has a cartar!" he told me excitedly. Hehehe! My brother just calls them "'tars." And my sister Courtney used to call them "kintars."

Speaking of funny children, we have all these old video tapes of me singing my little heart out when I was three years old. First it was Over The Rainbow. Dressed in a Dorothy dress, of course. I remember one time I walked into the playroom at a Christmas party and announced to the rowdy looking boys climbing on the toys that I was Dorothy Gale from Kansas. "Dorothy WHALE" they taunted. I wasn't hurt. Just a little confused and indignant. Mostly indignant. I left the room and didn't bother my head about them anymore. Silly boys.

Next it was Bye Bye Birdie. My mom was in the show when I was 3 or 4 (she was in a little group of back-up singers for Conrad Birdie), and so she had the old movie. I really liked that opening song (now I can't stand it). We have videos of me singing loudly and mournfully that there was "no more sunshine/It followed you away."

Then, around the same time, my parents had me advertise little boxes of food and such and do pretend commercials.
Me: Would you like to buy this... (Mom, prompting, "Mango tea,") Mango tea?
Dad: Well, tell me why I should.
Me: 'Cause... it's MANGO TEA! And it's very sweet, it has licorice in it.

Ah, licorice. I never considered using it as a sweetener... Then next:

Me: Would you like to buy this diet cooowke? (Said with an English accent. I don't know WHERE it came from) It's very healfy. 'Cept it has cawffeine in it. (Again, don't know where the accent came from. Too many movies, maybe?)

I guess I've always had a bit o' the stage in my soul, hm?

Oh, yes: For those of you interested in my Music Man adventures, rehearsals are coming along fine. I'm even getting the dances down. Not doing them well, I admit, but at least I sort of know what I'm supposed to be doing. ;) We blocked "Piano Lesson" on Wednesday. One of the best things about having double or triple cast characters is watching the other actors doing what you're supposed to do, and seeing how it looks. And that scene really looks so fun.

Desert Island

I'm very sorry I haven't been posting. I've been lazy, busy, tired, etc. ;) BookButterfly tagged me over at her blog, and it looked like a lot of fun. Katie of Shakespeare And Showtunes (a blog after my own heart) also tagged me for a Six Random Things meme, and I will get around to that one soon, I promise! Thanks, Katie and BB!

Beware: it's getting late and I'm exhausted and a little silly.

Rules:
1. List the 10 books/collected works/series that you would bring on a desert island.
2. (Optional) Say why you would bring them.
3. Link to the person who linked to you.
4. Tag 6 people to also do the meme.
5. Leave a comment to let those people know.

1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church. What if I were stranded on a desert island with an expectant mother and she was going to miscarry the baby and I forgot how to baptize it!? ;) Or what if this mother were an atheist? I would need my Catechism, because debates would be inevitable.

2. The Bible, I should think that ought to be enough said, but besides being divinely inspired and spiritually helpful and all the already-amazing stuff, it's really great literature.

3. The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton. That's fifty volumes. And if they get wet I am KILLING that ocean. Wait... never mind. Forget I said that.

4. Les Miserables. I can open it up at random and read something that I love.

5. The Chronicles of Narnia. They really shaped my imagination, and I couldn't go too long without at least knowing they were there.

6. The Lord of the Rings. I am STILL reading Fellowship of the Ring, and I would go crazy knowing I got stranded on this island before finishing it.

7. Regina Doman's books: The Shadow of the Bear, Black As Night, Waking Rose, and The Midnight Dancers. Because I love them very much.

8. The Complete Works of Shakespeare! It would be so hard for me to live without Shakespeare. And I pity that expectant mother I might be stranded with. Because whether I had the Complete Works or not, I'd be doing a lot of quoting.

9. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. I don't believe I will ever get tired of it.

10. Shadowplay by Clare Asquith, because I haven't read it yet, and I have such a beautiful copy of it.

I tag... I tag... The Real Katie, Courtney, and Lanta and Bridget of Random Profound Thoughts.

I Need A Cookie

I just caught a whiff of something tantalizing and totally imaginary: a peanut butter cookie. There are no peanut butter cookies in this house, and yet I could have sworn that I smelled something like it.

I need a peanut butter cookie. :( I made some very good ones using chocolate cake mix. They stayed chewy forever. Well, you know, until I ate them all...