Wow!  I like to post a roundup of links over at Frugal Hacks every now and then, but I found so many great articles this time I couldn’t resist sharing it here.  Please pop over and tell me what you think.  Good stuff, no?

Since I don’t want our blog to languish while I’m busy mooning over big dark eyes in a tiny face, here are some links I’ve saved over time.

• The Contempt Shown to Parents of Large Families –
  …Why are people impressed that Jay Leno owns 20 motorcycles, but disgusted that some religious families choose to have 10 children?Let’s not finesse the response. We all know why. A world that has lost its innocence has trouble appreciating beings who are innocent. A world that has become selfish has soured to the idea of leading a life of selflessness. A world that has become grossly materialistic is turned off to the idea of more dependents who consume resources. And a world that mistakenly believes that freedom means a lack of responsibility is opposed to the idea of needy creatures who “tie you down…”  read the entire article
• Keeping the BP oil spill in perspective – a map comparing the quantities of some of the biggest oil spills in history.
• Contraception: Why Not?
  Janet Smith explains why the Catholic Church keeps insisting, in the face of the opposite position held by most of the rest of the modern world, that contraception is one of the worst inventions of our time. ht to Amy’s Humble Musings
• Obama Cartoon
  If you’re inclined to be excited about handouts…one of my all-time favorites, also courtesy of Amy.
• Crockpot Indonesian Chicken. Intriguing. I wonder if my family would try this willingly, or will I have to force them?  And will Perry be on my side?
• Online recipe calorie calculator – too cool!  I’m not a big calorie counter, but just a few weeks ago I was wondering if there was an easier way to do it and today Tammy linked to it.  Provides not just calories, but complete nutrition information.  I tried it for a few simple recipes and it seemed simple and accurate.  If you try it out, let me know!

And to satisfy my own curiosity, have you ever had a child that is darker in coloration than either parent?  Though Perry’s hair looks black now, it was very blonde when he was a child.  He has hazel eyes, more brown than green but not very dark.  My hair is a medium/dark brown and my eyes are green.

We’ve had 3 children who are darker than either of us, 2 of them very much so.  Some of our friends call them our Spanish daughters – now that Parker has joined the ranks, they’ll have to say Spanish children - though I suspect our dual American Indian heritage, Cherokee and Tlingit.  Two of the three were born with thick nearly-black hair and eyes darker brown than Perry’s.

I’m still trying vainly to see hints of my other children in Parker.  One theory that I like: while most of our children look like their dad’s side of the family, Parker looks like me.  :D

If you follow us on Facebook then you know I’ve been walking.  If you don’t, you might only know that I walked once and managed to convince my entire extended family that I had been abducted.

Anyway, I realized with a scant month left in this pregnancy that I have been a slug for the last 3 pregnancies.  I wasn’t really bothered by this until I also realized that for the first 7 children, I was very active before and/or during each pregnancy.

We didn’t plan it this way, but after one pregnancy, Perry and I got a gym membership and lifted weights several times/week.

After another I took nearly a year of karate, pushing myself to levels I didn’t think possible.

Another time, we spent a summer mowing lawns and I begged to be allowed to most of the work while Perry kept the kids so I could get some much-needed exercise.

Throughout my pregnancy with Becca (by far my easiest delivery) Perry and I rode bikes obsessively, using bicycle trailers and infant seats to haul 2 or 3 children behind each of us.

Before and during my pregnancy with Rachael, we spent hours every evening cutting,hauling and burning brush on our land in preparation for building our house.

I furthermore realized that for those early pregnancies, each bout of labor & delivery went a little more quickly and easily.

After #7, during the slug years, my labors became longer and slower.  Not necessarily harder, but definitely not easier.

It’s also noteworthy that I recently had a good look at myself in the mirror, and decided it’s time to shape up.  I may not carry a lot of extra weight, but it certainly doesn’t look like it did 20 or even 10 years ago.  I could just shrug and blame age, but I know I’ve been a slug and I know that some physical activity would make a world of difference.

I also know that hubby and the girls are making great leaps and bounds in their insane physical fitness program which they started just 2 or 3 days after my first walk, and I’ve already agreed to join them 6 weeks after the baby is born.  If I don’t want to die then, I need to start now – albeit gently.

And so I’m walking with a level of determination that I don’t think I’ve experienced since I was motivated by 17yo vanity.

For the first week, I averaged 1.5 miles/day.

For the second and third weeks, I averaged 2 miles/day, attacking our 1/4 mile hill and adding two 5-lb weights sometime during that period.

This week, I’m aiming for 3 miles (did it Saturday and today!) with either weights or our hill – not both.

Before you give me too much credit, let me explain.  I’m a whiner, but the weather has been incredible – cool, breezy, cloudy and comfortable.  Nothing like what we’ve come to expect in May down here in south Texas.  The wildflowers have also been spectacular, lasting long past the usual season.

Also, I often begged off exercise because of my arthritic knees and the piriformis syndrome in my right hip.  Surprisingly, my knees and hip have not bothered me at all.

And in spite of my own misgivings at the beginning, my “normal” pregnancy aches and pains nearly disappeared when I started exercising, while my energy level increased dramatically.  I feel so much better than I did over the last few months!

Yesterday was Sunday.  I took a Sabbath from walking.  I spent the day feeling groggy, irritable and achy, and woke up stiff and sore this morning.  After a 3 mile walk this morning, I felt great again.

I may be lazy and prone to complain or make excuses, but right now I think I’m too lazy to skip my walk and face the day with no energy.  And it bears repeating, I’m really hoping this will help with labor and delivery.  At any rate, it feels good to know that I’m doing something about my labor apprehensions.  Prayer helps, of course – but I think my uncharacteristic motivation to exercise may be God’s answer to those prayers.  Of course, I hope He also answers with an easy delivery.  A girl can hope, right?

Posted by: Kittykait

I’m all jazzed right now because I finally started an Etsy shop!  In case you didn’t know,  Etsy is a place like ebay for handmade, supplies for handmade things and vintage items. We’ve found it’s a great place to find inexpensive jewelry making supplies like pendants, charms, chains etc.

I set up my Etsy shop for some really cute, thanks to some loverly mariemadeline scraps, fabric rings.  I’ve been meaning to for a long time but I procrastinate, just like my Mommy, isn’t that sweet?

I’m telling you first, partly so you can hop over and take a look and give me suggestions, like  what questions you have that I didn’t already answer in the description. And so you can give me some of my first business!

And please let me know what color you like best!

Around the web:

• Mega-Family Blogs –  We’re on the list, but many of the other families on this list make us look anything but mega.
• Large Family Mothering – I just discovered that one of my old reads, a mother of 15, is actually blogging still.  Somehow I lost her along the way.  Maybe her feed changed, or bloglines just dropped her.  Maybe you used to read her blog and will be glad to find it again too?
• 5 Quick Dinners – scroll down to the Bow Ties with Sausage, Cream and Tomatoes.  My family doesn’t know it yet, but this is why there’s a quart of half-n-half in the fridge that they are forbidden to touch.  I even got hubby to agree not to open it, because once he does everyone will use it just once and then it’s gone.  Found via Kacie at Sense to Save
• Keedoozle stores – the chain failed back in the ’40′s, but you won’t believe what they tried to accomplish! ht to Trent @ The Simple Dollar

New this week on my other blog, Frugal Hacks:

• A Frugal Past Time – reading to your children, by my real-life friend DL
• Sacramental Frugality – by the Headmistress.  This one will make you think deeper thoughts than anyone ought to think before 10 AM, but it’s well worth the effort.
• New members added to the Frugal Blogroll – feel free to let me know if you find any dead links or inactive blogs on the blogroll.  I need all the help I can get maintaining it!

The fruits of spending too much time online this morning:

• The Duggars are in the news again. I like them not just because they actually have even more kids than my parents (who ran out of time at 14 kids), but also because we’ve met them and eaten with them and they are genuinely nice people.  Usually they’re in the news because of a pregnancy announcement, but this time it’s because the two oldest boys administered CPR to a 6yo girl after a car wreck.  The article also mentions that the rest of the family has temporarily moved to be near little Josie, who is still in the hospital after being born 15 weeks premature.  ht to Lily of the Valley
• Scientists think they know what causes labor to start naturally in a general sort of way, but it ties in nicely with what the article says on the matter.  ht to Lily of the Valley again.
• I found these neat little cots from a comment on this post. We won’t need them right away with our new bunk bed plans, but they sure look handy.  Too bad they only come in lots of 6.  Yes, I freely admit that I read and enjoy Emily’s blog.  I think she bravely offends many of our modern American sensibilities by thinking outside the box, and it both amuses and saddens me that so many people object so viciously.  You should go give her a cheer and drown out the critics.
• This. Is. Cool. I want to go.  Hubby’s laughing, but I’m dead serious.  Dead serious with a smile.  Could it really work?  Probably not, after reading and trying to understand the small print.  But now we’re thinking maybe we should find a card with a good reward program and use it to buy gas and groceries.  After all, we eat a lot, and so does the gas-hog.