Freaky Homeschoolers

check out "Gianna's Thoughts"

2010-08-24T23:27:00.001-05:00

Gianna has branched off into her own blog! www.giannasthoughts.blogspot.com

2010-08-14T00:12:00.001-05:00

Today we went to N'Awlins Crab House right by our house. The place was great especially the decor. The food especially the scallops wrapped in bacon with rice, hush puppies and coleslaw was good but I wasn't too crazy about the rice because it had a bad after-taste. I liked the decor because it reminded me of when we went to South Carolina to visit my friend. I think I would want to go back to N'Awlines again some day.

Maybe the Catechism Should Update Its Pics?

2010-08-13T23:41:00.002-05:00

I've read that 'only' 3% of the abortions are performed because something is 'wrong' with the baby. I've also read that more Catholics have abortions than Protestants. I've seen supposedly holy Catholics shun my handicapped daughter. And I've noticed that the Catechism has pictures from the 50's. There are no handicapped people (or people of different races and ethnicities) portrayed. So I'm wondering if maybe the illustrations were changed, maybe kid Catholics today will grow up to be more accepting of the handicapped (and people from different races and ethnicities) and would be less apt to kill their unborn handicapped child? Maybe to effectively end abortion, we need to change the mindset so all abilities (and races and ethnicities) will feel welcomed in the Church founded by Christ? Just a thought.

Ha!!! Take THAT leader of the pro-life movement who so quickly dismissed my concerns!!!!!

2010-01-26T19:50:00.001-06:00

Sisters of Mother Teresa: Disabled Children are 'the Wealth of the Church'

What does pro-life mean?

2010-01-25T21:30:00.002-06:00

Everybody else seems to 'vent' on their blogs so I'm going to do this just once. I promise. I'm entertaining this thought that if Catholics truly want to bring people home to the Church, we need to walk the walk. It reminds me of when I was out to dinner with a family of pro-life, skirt wearing, retreat-going Catholics whom everyone pointed to as a holy example. Yet these holy children wouldn't sit next to my handicapped daughter. Hello??? What's wrong with that picture? And that's one of the many times she has been shunned by so-called holy, pro-life Catholics. What conclusions am I to draw from this? To be a good Catholic, I must ignore my own daughter? People like 'us' cannot be good Catholics because of her handicap? Or because we don't wear skirts or go on retreats? And whenever I try to discuss this with someone in the Church, I've been cut off (by a priest), accused of being angry and judgemental (by a national leader in the pro-life movement who's name I won't mention because I'm sure Catholics would recognize her name) or it's pooh-poohed along the same lines as the sex abuse scandal ("It was only 1% of the priests, what's the big deal?")

I also read that 31% of the abortions are done on Catholic women. That's higher than non-believers! And I heard that some supposed Catholic women have those abortions because the unborn baby is diagnosed with a disability. Are they choosing abortion because they know what kind of 'acceptance' that child will have? What's going on here?

Now I realize we are all imperfect and could easily all go to Confession on a daily basis with plenty of material but aren't we truly called to try to see Christ's face in all, even in those less perfect that our skirt-wearing, retreat-going selves? It's like some poeple have elevated the Catholic faith to THEIR liking and they judge everyone around them according to THEIR standards. It's nuts! Is that how Catholicism is supposed to work?

I tried to implement a 'ministry to the handicapped' at my local parish and the priest told me that the parish counsel "wanted nothing to do with it".

Do people realize that this mentality is 3 steps away from eugenics? "You don't deserve to be my friend"..."You don't deserve to be Catholic"...."You don't deserve to be alive". It's wrong and we all need to stop it...and take ourselves down from that pedestal we've created for ourselves and really start seeing God's face in everyone...and (hang onto your hats here, folks) even befriend those who are handicapped. Ok, not all handicapped people are nice people just like not all able-bodied people are nice people...but can we be open to it? Aren't we supposed to be?

Remember the Holocaust? Hitler's T-4 project? I can see that happening here, easy. There's no one to stand up for them now just like there was no one to stand up for them then. Ya think that'll reflect well when we're judged? Aren't we supposed to be a voice for those who don't have a voice? Or will doing so get our pretty little skirts dirty?

Whew...ok...I'm done, and true to my word I will not post again. This blog was intended for a specific purpose...for my kids to practice their writing skills by writing about their interests. And that's what it will remain. Thank you for listening.

Steve & Gianna's Cooking Challenge

2009-10-12T00:36:00.003-05:00

And the challenge was: tilapia, apple, graham crackers and water chestnuts. The result? Sweet on Fish.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

today we did a challenge where we cooked fish with an apple and water chestnut chutney. at first was shocked to see chestnuts but then we had a great idea that was goooooooooooood. i would like to do this again.

2009-10-11T17:46:00.002-05:00

From the Chicago Sun-Times today:

"....conservative Catholicism can be so narrowly focused that it risks becoming a sect, George writes in his book, The Difference God Makes: A Catholic Vision of Faith Communion and Culture..."

Gotta love him, huh? Finally someone of substance said it!!!

Reveiw of Halo 3: ODST

2009-10-05T18:00:00.003-05:00

About 3 weeks ago the american version of the new Halo game Halo 3: ODST came out. It is a "different" type of Halo game. For one it has no apperance of Master Chief, the main character for the other 3 Halo games. In Halo 3: ODST, you are and ODST, Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, which is a step down from the Spartan soldier. An ODST is weaker than a Spartan, for one they dont have a shield, second they arn't as strong phisically, third they can't duel weild, and fourth they take less bullets before dying. While some say that this is the worst of the Halo games, most agree this is a nice Halo game with more challenges and benafits...
In Halo 3 the coveted R.E.C.O.N armor was the most coveted and impossiblr armor to get, the only way to get it back then was to become an employee of Bungie or to impress them with a map or video...but now there is another way. Since Halo 3: ODST came out people have been striving to get all the Vidmaster achivements, why? Because if you get all the Vidmasters in Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, 7 altogether, will unlock you the R.E.C.O.N armor is you have a valid Windows Live ID on Bungie.net. There are 2 R.E.C.O.N armor types, the Halo 3: ODST R.E.C.O.N which is a Firefight, Halo version of Nazi Zombies from Call of Duty: World at War or Horde mode from Gears of War 2, character with the R.E.C.O.N helmet but is not useable in Halo 3 Matchmaking, and the Halo 3 R.E.C.O.N armor which is useable in the Halo 3 Matchmaking. The Halo 3: ODST R.E.C.O.N armor is unlocked by beating the campaign on ledgendary which may sound easy but proves to be a challenge is soloing it. And the Halo 3 R.E.C.O.N armor is unlocked, as i said earlier, by completeing all the Vidmaster achivements on LIVE, meaning must have a gold membership. Next, Campaign and more firefight details.
The Halo 3: ODST campaign is one of the most hardest campaigns i have played in my years of video game playing. The Brutes, new elites, are way to overpowered on ledgendary even normal. You die in 2-3 shots of a decently powered weapon. And the levels seem to drag on forever. BUT! it is also one of the best campaigns i have played, because it is a great challenge for people who say they are the "best" FPS, First Person Shooter, players in the world... and im not saying i am, I SUCK! Also the story flows nicely with some nice twists and turns in it. Another cool and unique feature about the campaign is that you play as 5 different players throught the course of the campaign, Buck, the Rookie, Mickey, Romeo, and Dutch, each with a different part in the progress of the liberation of New Mombasa, a futuristic African city where the story takes place which the Covanent, enemies, breached and invaded. Now lets get to Firefight. It is just like Horde mode and Nazi Zombies but unlike Nazi Zombies they shoot back! In the lobby you can choose the map, which are unlocked throught the course of the campaign but some are unlocked already, the difficulty; Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Ledgendary, and the silver skulls which you unlock in Halo 3 campaign which are; Cowbell, IWBYD, Grunt B-Day, and Mythic, i think. The Vidmaster: Endure, the most impossible one there is, is done on Firefight with 4 people online on Heroic difficulty and lasting past the 4th set on any map. I wish you luck with Endure.
I would give this came a 9 out of 10 due to the difficulty of the Vidmasters and the difficulty of the campaign. So my final comment on this game would be GO GET IT IT ROCKS!!! Also i need some help with my last 2 Vidmasters... my GT is Th3 Xtr3m3 and i play on weekends and holidays... send me a message and/or and invite and ill see what days im free and we can do them. Good luck to all and i hope you like this reveiw on Halo 3: ODST, Best Halo Game Ever.

2009-10-05T08:33:00.002-05:00

I can paint "Mourning Wolf"on a smaller sized canvas with border colors of your choice for $50 +s/h. Contact me at westman671@comcast.net for more details.

Dining With Gianna

2009-01-29T19:10:00.004-06:00

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Litch King review

2009-01-12T17:31:00.003-06:00

Hey all you people....I downloaded WotLK just under a month ago and it absolutly ROCKS!!!!! The new class the Death Knight or DK is awsome and super strong but is gonna be nerfed in the next patch :( along with all the other classes. The new continent called Northrend is bigger and better then the Outland which was avalible in the previous expansion Burning Crusade or BC. I went to Northrend or NR only twice...1st with my DK Vanthena (now my dads DK Ahokk) and with my hunter Arokk who was LvL.32 at the time and now is LvL.65 and is almost ready to fight in Northrend because Northrend ranges from LvLs 68-80 (you can take down monsters that are 2- to even 8 lvLs above you but i would suggest fighting monsters that are 2-3 LvLs above you. There are new armor sets for all classes including the DK (but the Dk only has teir 7 armor). Ther are new spells/abilities for all classes and also cool new wepons and 2-4 passenger mounts! but they cost from 19ooo-22000g!! thats crazy. There are more teirs in the talent trees for each class like now hunters who are speced (or specilized) in Beast Mastery can tame cool new pets such as the core hound,chimera,spirit beasts, rhinos and so on so forth. LvL.80 is the cap for LvLing and there are new PvP (player vs. player) battlegrounds. I'm almost LvL.70 and at LvL.70 you can get flying mounts for 200g and train for flying mounts for 450 or 550g then for your epic which is 500g and to train for them costs 1000g. There are soem new enemies such as rabid wolves, vikings, elephant/rhino looking things, giant crows, giant dwarves, and even the Litch King himself!! Well thats all i can say for now....hope you guys post coments. Here are my Characters names, LvLs, faction, class, and servers:Arokk, LvL.65, Sentinals, Alliance, Hunter; Scorcher,LvL. 20, Sentinals, Alliance, Mage; Ravvik, LvL.17, Sentinals, Alliance, Palidan; Ahokk, LvL.58, Sentinals, Alliance, Death Knight; Poisoin. LvL.17, Sentinals, Alliance, Rouge; Ulfour, LvL.22, Sentinals, Alliance, Palidan. If you read this post and/or play WoW please leave a comment letting me know your character info like I told you and ill add you to my friends list and see if i can catch you on :). Have a good day.

2009-01-12T17:06:00.003-06:00

Dining With Gianna

2008-11-09T08:17:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I went to Applebees ,I had a chicken sandwich and a bowl of french onion soup . The food was ok-8. the apearance was average-7 . room was ok-8 .The service was fantastic-10.And the final g-grade is 8.25.

They can change it by putting more space between the tables.

Ian's Gaming Wisdom

2008-11-06T16:28:00.003-06:00

Hello, im back to review Fallout 3 a 360,PS3, or the PC. I have it for the 360 and i think it is the best game for the 360 since oblivion. You start off as a child being born in a place called vault 101, from there you go through a create a character prosses. then you go from just born to a 1 yr. old were you learn how to walk and look around. From there you go to a 10 yr. old at your tenth birthday party. From there you go to a 16 yr. old when you have to take your apptitude test. Then you go to 19 yrs. old when you break out of the vault to find your dad. After you break out your in a world free for you to explore. There are enemies such as radroaches, radscorpians, mutants, zombies, raiders, hunters, radiated animals, and if you have a bad karma you will fight civilians if you make them mad like I did.
Before you leave the vault you would be asked if you want to change your apperance, gender, your S.P.E.C.I.E.L.S(sorry if i spelled wrong), and your tag skills. But be warned once you exite the vault you will never be able to enter again. If you go thru the vault right you should have security armor, 10mm pistol, BB gun, and a police baton(all weak wepons). The later wepons are for example: Shiskabob(a flaming gas powered sword), Minigun(you get from killing super mutant brutes), Rock-it-launcher(you build this), nuka granade(you build this),assault rifle, .32 cal. pistol, chinese pistol, chinese assault rifle, missle launcher, super sledge, chainsaw knife(IDk were to get this ._.), hunting rifle, sniper rifle, energy rifle, energy pistol, sniper pistol, and much much more.
Here are the basics: bottle caps are money, the area outside the vault is contaminated with nucular energy so don't get R.A.D sickness by drinking to much dirty water, everyone who will not talk to you will attack you on site, and if you prefer, once you get to lv 5 you can get easy money by raiding cities and sparing no one by looting their hoses looting them like I do and i have over 2000 capsand im working on my third city. This is a really great game with really great armor such as: Spiked armor, leather armor, enclave armor, civilian clothes, raiders outfits, combat armor, duster overcoats, or if you prefer, pre war clothes wich grant no armor bonuses but look a little cool.
This game is reated M for some strong language, minor use of drugs like wiskey, beer, and phyco,intence violence by which if you get a CRIT. on someone or something their limbs will pop right off, and blood and gore, so i will sudgest(even though i am 12) this game for 15+. Hope this is enough info.

Ian

Prayer Corner

2008-10-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

The Memorare

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary,
That never was it known that anyone who fled to Thy protection,
Implored Thy help or sought Thy intercession was left unaided
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto Thee
O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother
To Thee do I come
Before Thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful
O, Mother of the Word Incarnate,
Despise not my petition
But in Thy Mercy
Hear and answer me.
Amen.

Please add your prayer intentions as Comments and pray a Memorare for those already listed. Thank you and God Bless.

Ian's Gaming Wisdom

2008-10-20T16:46:00.000-05:00

Hello, my name is Ian and I’m new to the whole reviewing thing so try to cut me some slack ok? Ok ill be reviewing different types of video games. I am going to tell you if they are worth buying and how much, if it is appropriate for young kids all the way to teens, and tell you about it. So, today ill be reviewing a PC game called World of Warcraft the Burning Crusade. It is a MMORPG ( Massively Multiplayer Online Role playing Game). It is an excallent game were you can play with people around the world. You start of as a lv.1 character of your choice consisting of one of the races of Night Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Gnomes, and Dreanei fpr Aliance (Good Guys) and Orcs, Tauren, Undead, Trolls, and Blood Elves (Bad Guys). Also consisting of a class of your choice but keep in mind that ceritian races can be certain classes, there are 9 classes warroirs, rouges, palidans, shamans, warlocks, mages, priests, druids, and hunters ( a death knight on November 13). It is a game easy to get used to and its great for socializing.
There are also different roles to play with different classe like a mage is a long range caster as are warlocks priests druids and shamans, Hunters warlocks warriors and some priests can do crowd control, hunters and rouges do dps (damage per second), warriors rouges some druids and palidans can do tanking and backup tanking, as priests palidans and druids can heal. Some cclasses even get to change formes for either traveling and fighting. Druids can change into bears, panthers, ravens, owlbears and cheatas while shamans can change into a ghost wolf for faster walking.
There are also mounts which you can ride like humans can ride horses, dwarves can ride rams, gnomes can ride mechanacal chickens, night elves can ride tigers, and Dreanei can ride elephants keep in mind that you get regular mounts at lv.30 and epic mounts at lv.60. orcs get wolves, trolls get raptors, tauren get bulls, undead get skeloton horses, and blood elves get hawkstriders. There are also class specific mounts like the warlock gets a horse with flaming feat and palidans get armored horses (and later on November 13 a death knight can get a horse with blue flaming feat). Also there are flying mounts but keep in mind that you can only use these mounts in a place called the outlands and you can get flying mounts at lv.70. These are not race specific but you do have to be exalted to buy them in-game of course). There are dragons waveyns, griphons, hippogryphs, and flying machines. These cost alot of gold!
There are also alot of fun casual thing to do in WoW like during Chrismas time there is an event called Winter's veil where santa comes and gives you presents! There is also Hollows end were you get to get costumes and masks and candy from trick or treating in- game of course. The headless horseman also comes and sets buildings on firebut if your good enough you can put out the fires and save the town! You can also go to an auction House to buy armor and weapons and I play this game and i bought some pirate stuff to make my guy look like a pirate! There is also an easter time were you get to hunt for eggs! It realy fun.
There are also special mounts you can get during these events like a broom from hollows end and also the headless horseman's horse. During Chrismas time you can get a reigndeer. Duiring Brewfest you can get a ram. and also duiring PvP ( player vs. player) you can get mounts for free! Also If your lucky enough if you open a pack of WoW trading cards youl find a special loot card with either a nether rocket, a spectral tiger, or a turtle! There are vendors in the second town for each race were you can get your rece's mount for 9 gold (after discounts 10 gold before hand).
There is also a guils system were you'll be able to start a guild of either 9 charcaters or even up to 300 characters! you will be able to design your own tabard to wear to show of your guilds crest, a guild name which will be under your original name showing the name of yout guild, and rank names which shows the status of your guild members. There is a quest system were your character will be able to talk to npc ( non player characters) who gives your characters a task to fullfil and if you do you'll get either xp. (experience points) or a reward or even both. There are professions which your character will b e able to master, there are gathering professions like herblism, mining, and skinning keep in mind that you can make alot of gold with these professons. And there are crafting professions like blacksmithing (later spilts up to weaponsmithing or armorsmithing), leatherworking, and tailoring.
There are also doungeons which you and others can group together and go through facing the surprices, dangers and even great rewards that await you. There are some dungeons accecible only to each fractions like the Deadmines and Stokades are accesible only to the Alliance and Ragefire chasm and wailing caverans are accesable only to the Hoarde. And there are some dungeons accesable to both fractions like blackrock mountain and onxyas lair. Some of these dungeons have a pre-dungeon and then an instence which leads to the real dungeon like deadmines and wailing caverans.
This game is rated T for teen but im a 12 year old and ive been playing since I was 8 or 9.
So I would say that this is a good game for pre-teens to teens. There is minor violence and minor language so i'd say it is ok. It costs 50.00 to 60.00 dollars but there are trial discs you can buy at Gamestop for 2.00 dollars and it cost 15.00 dollars per month or if you prefer 90.00 dollars a year. If anyone has this or buys this game i play on the servers Arygose and Sentinels im a horde on Arygose and Alliance on Sentinels, I have a lv.15 gnome rouge, and a lv.10 Dreanei hunter both on Sentinels and i have a lv.10 orc shaman and a lv.26 Tauren hunter both on Arygose. So if anyone plays please let me know and ill help you get through the first area and let me know by commenting on this review. Hope you all like this review. Also the expansion the Burning Crusade is seperate and is required to play with all other people and also on November 13 the expantion Wrath of the Litch King is going to be 45.00 dollars to 60.00 dollars. Let me know if anyone plays.

Ian

We Want to Hear From You!!

2008-10-20T16:22:00.001-05:00

Some questions to ponder:

How has faith helped you or your loved one cope with a handicap/disability?

Do you find most public places truly accessible?

Share a warm and fuzzy story!

How can society make life easier for those who are physically handicapped?

Dining With Gianna

2008-10-20T15:17:00.000-05:00

Gianna is a 10-year-old with spina bifida. She has aspirations of someday being a restaurant critic and this column, Dining With Gianna, is a way for her to practice her writing skills. Welcome to Dining With Gianna.

October 12, 2008

Today I went to the Paragon restaurant in Indiana . I had a Monte Cristo and a bowl of French onion soup. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best: The service was average -7 and the appearance was ok -5 and the accessibility was fantastic -9 and the food was awesome -10. And the final grade (or “G”-grade) for Paragon Restaurant is 7.

The restaurant can be changed by putting a sink in the handicapped stall and flowers on the table. The service can be a little faster, too but I would like to go back there again.