My Christmas Flower

I walk into my bedroom half an hour ago, look at my bookcase with my potted plants on top and suddenly I notice two purple flowers on my African Violet!

She hasn't had any flowers since about October/November and now, in the midst of winter she pops forth with two! I asked my sister Kathleen if she'd seen them before, and of course she replies "Oh yeah, I saw them sometime last week." I was like "WHAT??? Why didn't you tell me that Alice had flowers!???!?!?!?!?!??" Response: shrug.
So I am very excited with Alice's new flowers, they are so pretty! (Yes, I named her Alice - not *cough* after the Twilight character). I wonder what made them pop up? Christmas, or the change of scenery and temperatures? Alice used to be in the back hall by two doorways, but after it got colder I moved her to my bed room. So it's either warmer there, or maybe she likes water from the bathroom sink better then water from the filtered drinking tap.
Again, yes I named my plant. She looks like an Alice, don't you think? And don't worry, this is not my first plat I've named. I have two others, a some kind of green plant and an ivy plant. The green unknown plant is Fred. He was the first plant I got. Actually, his birthday is soon... and Holly is my ivy. ;) All three are very good friends and decorate the top of my book shelf nicely. I'm thinking of adding to my menagerie with maybe a baby pine tree, or something.
Feel free to leave your congratulations for Alice here and I shall pass them on to her!

EDIT: Ha ha! My 300th post!!!!

A New Name and a New Year!

New Name: I have selected a new name for my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

A Rose in Bloom
Reflections and Musings of a Sheildmaiden of Heaven

I thank you all for your many and wonderful suggestions! While I didn't exactly chose any of the suggested ones, they did certainly provide the inspiration for the title I finally came up with!
Once again, thank you all for your suggestions!
(And yes, I have read the Louisa May Alcott book of the same name; 'tis one of my favorites!)

New Year: Yes, today is...

MY ONE YEAR BLOG ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!

A post on that is coming within the next hour or so, so you can defer your congratulations until then, unless you are so excited that you truly cannot contain yourself. =)

But before then, I have gotten a few questions to the effect of "What on earth is a sheildmaiden!?!??????"
So, a post on that next. ;)

Ps. While the name of my blog has changed, the URL is still the same, so no worries there!

Help!!!!

Ok, I've been trying to decided ever since I started this blog if I like the title of it. I have gotten used to "Lady of the Rose", but I am not sure I like it that much. (Yeah, I know, wait almost a year to decide I don't like it!

So I need help, what would you call this blog? I just need name suggestions, whether you like the title I have or not, I want you all to give me suggestions. Just suggestions! Doesn't mean I will change it, but it doesn't mean I won't change the title either.

So can you all come up with one or two alternate names for me? Thanks! I knew you would!
Oh, and it is not required to have "Rose" in the title anywhere; preferable, yes, but necessary... no.

So please leave your name and suggestion in the handy dandy comment box below, and if I DO decide I like one of the suggestions... I'll have to do something special for you!

Yes Sir!

Continuing in the Civil War/military strain, I thought I'd share with you something my siblings and I came up with last year, at the start of our (er, my) Civil War mania. A former acquaintance of ours had a relative or someone they knew in the army, so I asked them for a list of military ranks. She gave me them, and at the advent of our Civil War enthusiasm, my siblings and I instituted "The Army of the Plains" - a family army, as well as assigning ranks by using the sheet she gave us. I don't think this is a complete list, but it works for us!

How it works, is that for each year of your life, up until you are 10, you get promoted as an enlisted soldier. At age 13, you become an officer. From then on you get "promoted" based mostly on events in your life. Here is the list!

1 yr = Private
2 year = Private 1st Class
3 years = Specialist/Corporal
4 = Sergeant
5 = Staff Sergeant
6 = Sergeant 1st Class
7 = 1st Sergeant
8 = Sergeant Major
9 = Command Sergeant Major
10 = Sergeant Major of the Army

Officers
13 years = 2nd Lieutenant
Confirmation or Graduation from Grade School (which ever comes first) = 1st Lieutenant
16 years = Captain
18 years = Major
21/engaged = Lieutenant Colonel
Engaged/21 = Colonel*
Married = Brigadier General
1 yr anniversary = Major General
5 yr anniversary = Lieutenant General
25 yr anniversary = General
50 yr anniversary = General of the Army

Now you may be thinking, what if you enter the priesthood? Got that worked out too!

Seminarian = Colonel*
Deacon = Brigadier General
Priest = Major General
Bishop = Lieutenant General
Cardinal = General
Pope = General of the Army

*which ever comes first.

So currently, in the Grand Army of the Plains (My families army) I am a Captain. I suppose I should add that then to my "list of names" in my profile, eh? Hmmm, but should I attach something else to it, or should I just be "Captain"? I could be Captain Rose. Captain Rosemary Lee? Mary is not a part of my name, nor am I in anyway related to the Lee's (except via Adam and Eve), but it popped into my head, and I rather like it. Or I could be my Lee family counterpart. *grins* That's another thing we came up with.

Now if you have been around me when I enter "Civil War Buff" mode, you should know that I have an admiration (some call it an obsession) for General Lee. (I'll stop now before I get carried away... because I can feel a Civil War Buff mode coming on, and if I get started, I'll never stop!) So anyhow, my family has 7 kids, and the Lee family has 7 kids, so we matched eachother up and that is who we "are" in the Lee family. We've also done that with the VonTrapp family too. Any famous family with 7 kids, may become subject to our assignments.
So in the Lee Family, I "am" the eldest son, Custis. Captain Custis Rose. Captain Rose Custis?

I know! I shall turn it into a poll, and then you can all vote!

Tag! You're It!

My dear godmother Claire tagged me, so here is what I must do...
1.) Link to the person who tagged you. (check!)
2.) Post the rules of tagging on your blog. (check!)
3.) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (check!)
4.) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to them. (check!)
5.) Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their website.
So here it goes...

1.) My name was originally going to be "Amanda Lynne". My grandma, however, refused to let my mom name me that because.... "It sound's like an instrument!" (A mandolin - Amanda Lynne.) Oh, and I was named "Amanda" after this allegedly "cheesy" song called "Mandy" by Barry Manilo(sp?).

2.) My dream home is a mansion on a large plateau on top a majestic mountain with an absolutely breathtaking view off the front of the house. And the house MUST have a wrap-around porch/walkway with huge columns in the front. Oh yes, and an interior "North Woods" decor. Preferably somewhere in either Alabama near the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, or in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia, near Lexington. (How quirky is that?)

3.) I have never tasted a dessert that was too sweet for me... however, some things are just too chocolate-y.

4.) I have been told that when my sister, Megan, was born, someone came to tell me that my new sibling was a girl, to which I just looked at them and replied. "I knew that already!" (An aside, I was correct about all the rest of my siblings, with the exceptions of the last two.)

5.) I was the only person at my Confirmation who had the name "Rose."

6.) And.... one of the many and varied reasons that I like the Confederates is... *and I blush* I just love that shade of gray that they use for the uniforms! (Well, they used it in the movies, anyways.) It is just soooo pretty! *sighs at her frivolous self*.

Only six things!?!?! That was fun! Now to tag people.

First, my dear mother, who tries to Homeschool with Joy!
Bryant who says He Whom I Have Not Seen, I Love, meaning Our Lord, of course!
Paul Xavier, who's Catholic Discussions I delight in reading.
My favorite author.... Regina Doman.
Family friend Mr. Miller and the rest at Miller Time,
And finally, Signa Veritae!

Now, off to let them all know that they have been tagged.... Watson, the game is afoot!

What's in a name?

What's in a name? A question you have all heard before, I am sure, and one we rarely pay attention to. But sometimes, what's behind the name, can be rather interesting.
Names can mean all sorts of different things. For example, we know that Michael means "Who is like the Lord", Gabriel means "strength of God", and Raphael means "healer of God". It is an interesting note that in Hebrew the 'el' at the end of each of those names means "God". This was pointed out to us by Fr. AriEL (Emphasis added). His name means "Lion of God". (And it fits him!) My middle name ELizabeth (emphasis mine) means "Consecrated to God".
But what is more interesting than the meanings of names, is when they fit the bearer. For example....
Amanda means "worthy of love", which fits me (I think) because of my sanguine personality. (Sanguine people are fun-loving, affectionate, light-hearted people, more on that later!) Of course, since it is my name, I am now asking Your opinion on how well you think it fits me. (See the comment box below! :)
For those of you who have read the books "The Shadow of the Bear" or "Black as Night" by Catholic author Regina Doman, you will be familiar with the character named "Bear". You will also know that his real name is Arthur. But how many of you knew that "Arthur" is Old English/Celt for "bear-man"?
Other names....
He he... Frodo means "wise". I suppose he was.
One of my favorite names, Robert, means "bright fame", and that certainly fits one bearer of the name, Robert E. Lee, who was one of the most famous men of the Civil War and the Mexican War. (Well, in the Mexican War he was famous in the army. I don't think the rest of the world saw him as very famous.)
Susie Lloyd, author of "Please Don't Drink the Holy Water!" has some interesting things to say about names...
The tendency to bequeath to your kid a name expressive of all your aspirations is nothing new, however. My research show that it dates all the way back to the Old Testament... Time and again we see Old testament women getting carried away with joy as they give their sons canticle-size names such as , " God Has Seen Fit to Remove My Reproach From Among Men Thereby Granting Me a Son in Whom Rest All My Newfound Hopes of Never Having to Be Left Out of Another Mothers of Future Patriarchs and Prophets Meeting" (which translates to "Dan").
I always wondered how kids with names like that managed to have normal childhoods. Imagine a neighbor from the next tent down coming to the door. "Mrs Abraham, can God Has Heard the Cries of His Handmaiden and Granted Me a Son in My Old Age come out to play?"
... Protestants tend to go biblical... For Catholics however, the sky's the limit. But this has problems of its own.
"Benedict Francis Pio! You get that cat out of the dishwasher!"
"You just wait until your father comes home "Miss Regina Caeli!"
"Jerome Athanasius, how many times have I told you not to pick your nose?"...
By far, the avid papists have the hardest time administering discipline. How can you yell at somebody named John Paul?

So, if you are curious about what your name means, Behind the Name.com is a great place to start. (I have a link for it around here somewhere...) Let me know what your name means and how it fits you. If it doesn't, let me know how it doesn't.

Leave a footnote!