Lent, 2012

I've decided to take the plunge this year and abstain from blogging through Lent.  It's time, I think, that I pulled my scattered brain together and worked on understanding the real meaning of recollection.  Wish me luck! Or, I should say: Wish me Grace!  Below is the first of several posted-forward images and quotes to take the blog through the Lenten season.  Best Wishes to All! See you on the other side!

"Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God."
~Thomas a Kempis

Lent

Repost from 2010:

"And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" - Luke 9:23.

Prayers for Lent

* The seven penitential psalms are traditionally prayed during the days of Lent.  They are quite long, though, so can be split up, one a day for each day of the week, or all of them together prayed on Fridays in Lent.

The Prayer Before A Crucifix

Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus, I fall upon my knees before Thee, and with most fervent desire of my soul, I beg and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst impress upon my heart a lively sense of faith, hope and charity, true repentance for my sins, and a firm resolve to make amends. And with deep affection and grief of soul, I reflect upon Thy five most precious wounds, having before my eyes that which Thy prophet David spoke about Thee, o good Jesus: "They have pierced my hands and feet, they have numbered all my bones." Amen.


In Latin:

En ego, o bone et dulcissime Iesu

En ego, O bone et dulcissime Iesu, ante conspectum tuum genibus me provolvo, ac maximo animi ardore te oro atque obtestor, ut meum in cor vividos fidei, spei et caritatis sensus, atque veram peccatorum meorum poenitentiam, eaque emendandi firmissimam voluntatem velis imprimere; dum magno animi affectu et dolore tua quinque vulnera mecum ipse considero ac mente contemplor, illud prae oculis habens, quod iam in ore ponebat tuo David propheta de te, o bone Iesu: Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos: dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea. Amen.

* If you recite this prayer before crucifix, and under the usual conditions, on any of the Fridays in Lent (including Passiontide), you may receive a plenary indulgence.

Traditional Rules of Fast and Abstinence
 For Lent

(compliments of Fish Eaters)

 
Ash Wednesday snd all Fridays: fasting and total abstinence. This means 3 meatless meals -- with the two smaller meals not equalling in size the main meal of the day -- and no snacking.

Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays (except Ash Wednesday), and Thursdays: fasting and partial abstinence from meat. This means three meals -- with the two smaller meals not equalling in size the main meal of the day -- and no snacking, but meat can be eaten at the principle meal.

What To Eat

On those days of fasting and abstinence, meatless soup is traditional. Sundays, of course, are always free of fasting and abstinence; even in the heart of Lent, Sundays are about the glorious Resurrection. This pattern of fasting and abstinence ends after the Vigil Mass of Holy Saturday.

As to special Lenten foods, vegetables, seafoods, salads, pastas, and beans mark the Season, in addition to the meatless soups. The fasting of this time once even precluded the eating of eggs and fats, so the chewy pretzel became the bread and symbol of the times. They'd always been a Christian food, ever since Roman times, their very shape being the creation of monks. The three holes represent the Holy Trinity, and the twists of the dough represent the arms of someone praying. In fact, the word "pretzel" is a German word deriving ultimately from the Latin "bracellae," meaning "little arms" (the Vatican has the oldest known representation of a pretzel, found on a 5th c. manuscript). Below is a recipe for the large, soft, chewy pretzels that go so well with beer:

Soft Pretzels (makes 12)


1 (.25 ounces) package active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)
1 Tablespoons baking soda dissolved in 6 qt. water in large pot
egg + water for eggwash
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 Tablespoons coarse pretzel salt or kosher salt


In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.


Meanwhile, place parchment on cookie sheets and oil paper.


After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 2 to 3 foot, finger-thick rope. With the rope, make a U, cross the ends, twist, and attach to the center of the bottom of the U. Place on the parchment-lined sheets and let rise, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes. While they are rising, bring the baking soda + water in the pot to a boil. When the pretzels are risen, boil the pretzels in the water for about 3 minutes, turning once, til puffed a bit. Place on sheets and brush with eggwash.


Bake at 450 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with coarse salt (can use garlic salt or cinnamon sugar instead).

  Meatless Menus:

Cooking with Catholic Mom
Lenten Recipes at About Catholicism
Kelly the KitchenKop's Lenten Recipes (Check out all the good stuff at her Nourishing Traditions blog!)
The Pious Sodality of Church Ladies' 40 Meatless Meals
Catholic Cuisine's Meatless Meals Using Beans
Readers' Recipes for Lent at Faith and Family Live ('09)

Activities For Children

Lots of Lenten activities and ideas for children here.
I love Kimberlee's Lenten Cross idea
Catholic Mom has a Stations of the Cross coloring book
Here is a salt dough recipe for the crown of thorns bread activity for Lent
And more ideas at Catholic Culture

"Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God."

~Thomas a Kempis

Taking Care of Important Blogging Business Before Lent Begins...

My mother always told me (or she would have if it had actually ever come up) that it's impolite not to accept and acknowlege and show gratitude for an award as soon as a girl possible can.  So, here we are, and I know there are a lot of important things I really need to do before Lent starts tomorrow -- like, figure out if there's really anything meaningful I can do with my blog over Lent....  But, first, I have to thank a very sweet (and very busy!) fellow Mom-blogger-of-Many for the following award.
Check it out.  The Versatile Blogger Award. But versatile...

Moi?  Versatile? 

Let me think about this for a minute...
The dictionary says "versatile" means:

1. with many uses: able or meant to be used in many different ways

2. moving easily between tasks: able to move easily from one subject, task, or skill to another

3. changeable: subject to rapid or unpredictable change

So, well, hmmmm...  Yes.  Decidedly.  If I'm anything, I guess I'm versatile -- particularly if you look at defintions #1 and #2.  A Jack (actually, a Jill) of all trades and a master of none, I'm:

1. a short-order chef, who hasn't ever knowingly poisoned anybody

    (I make a mean meatloaf and the kids all like my soups. But, you'll notice -- like cutting curly hair, there's a lot of room for error in my specialties...)

2. a seamstress, who can sew a seam but not much else

    (I'm great at curtains, but don't ask me to tackle anything using a real pattern... I like to "wing things" and take shortcuts -- so the real seamstresses out there know just how accomplished I am...)

3. an artist with just enough ability to illustrate "to do" lists for her children

    (I made a stab at commerical illustration, but found out that I don't have the technical skills you need to make a go of it.)



4. a singer with just enough musical ability to annoy the real musicians in her family



"Mommy, will you please not sing?"

    (I sang soprano in our church choir before I had children, but my voice is lower now, and I don't have the musical ability to sing harmony, so I sing the melody lower than the the rest of the girls and sound really stupid.  They think I don't notice them trying not to cringe....  Hmph.)

5. an extraordinarily accomplished laundress

    (Well, yeah.  Not to toot my own horn.  But, Laundry. Laundry I'm good at.)

6. a tidy, if not an obsessively clean and disinfectant-weilding housekeeper

    (But all bets are off even the "tidy" part when the whole gang is home. Those ten pairs of socks and ten pairs of shoes constantly kicked hither and yon would have Monk throwing up his hands.)

7. and a writer with barely enough focus to avoid being called ADD.

    (My blog posts in the past week or so have swung wildly from deep and penetrating subjects like "Crank Calls" and "Coffee Quizzes" to debating the merits of e-books, to cookie recipes, to maybe the only post of worth recently, the story of the first visit of Our Lady of Lourdes in St. Bernadette's own words.)

So, um, yes...  Versatile.   I guess I do jump around a bit with themes on this blog.  You should hear my husband complain about trying to follow me in a conversation with girlfriends!  But it's not that I have ADD so much really, as that I have wide and varied interests!  Really.  That's what it is.  And sometimes I get a little punchy.  I admit it.

Many thanks and {Smiles and Waves} to Neen at All This And Heaven  for including me in this award!  I think any Mom of nine or ten children is probably versatile (and a little punchy) --  because we have to be --  and Neen, who has nine blessings and is expecting twins, is a kindred blogging spirit.  It's so nice to have met her through this award!

But, now it's my turn!  Here are the rules for passing the honor along:

Recipients are asked to remember the award giver in a link on their acceptance, as well as:

~ Listing 7 things about themselves
and
~ Picking 15 newly discovered blogs to give the award to

* Because it's Shrove Tuesday and I have pretzels to make, I am submitting 10 instead of 15 (which I certainly hope is OK -- and which I hope I'm not presumptuous in encouraging my Awardees to dolikewise, if they find themselves also limited for time!  Just introduce us to as many as you like -- and it's good!

New blogs I've recently visited -- written by folks I think I'd like to know better:

1. Dad with Noisy Kids at Scorpion Stalking Duck
2. Gae at Cherished Hearts at Home
3. Rachel at Thoughts from the Hearth.
4.  Suzanne at Classically Catholic
5. Lisbet at Joyful Chaos Homestead
6. Brandy at Marathon Mom
7. Julie at Moo-berry Farm
8. Virginia at Meet Virginia
9. Shiloah and Dawn at A Homemaking Journey
10.  Anchor Mama at Cold Anchor Farm

Beauty

This is my mother's high school graduation picture.  Doesn't she look like a movie star?  Everyone looked glamorous in portraits taken in the 1940s and '50s, didn't they?  But, still, really... while my Mom was truly lovely, inside and out, she was just a simple country girl from rural North Carolina, prettily freckled, with auburn hair and a decided tendency toward wearing plaid. She had nothing whatsoever in common with a Hollywood Startlette -- except for her glamorous senior picture.

 Back in Mom's day, everyone wanted to look like Audrey or Liz or Grace.  And why not?  Their images were not necessarily untarnished, but the persona that exuded from their publicity shots was graceful, feminine, and really, truly beautiful.  They appealed to our naturally ingrained idea of aesthetics, and with a practiced hand at makeup, a carefully chosen wardrobe, and a phographer who knew how to get the look, almost any girl of my mother's day could look -- and feel -- like a movie star -- at least for her senior portraits.

But, oh my stars! Perish the thought that any of my daughters would want to look like a movie star nowadays!

Not to say that modern movie stars aren't beautiful women; many really are.  But, a large majority of the publicity shots they circulate are neither attractive, nor particularly dignified.  They can certainly "clean up" well when they want to, but, more often than not, their dirty laundry is hanging out for everyone to see, figuratively and literally.  The classic beauties of our day, in the media, and very often out here in the real world,  are either lost under faddy attempts to be extreme and "cutting edge" or they're purposely blase'.  And they leave nothing to the imagination, if you know what I mean.

It's shameful.  What a distraction from the real beauty God has given them.

The classic beauties of my mother's day were worthy of imitation --  if not always in their lifestyle, usually in their appearance -- while today's teenagers have women like Lady Gaga and Brittany Speers for role models. Heaven help us.  And, though, most teenage girls don't try to imitate Lady Gaga in their senior pictures, it's unfortunate that her media popularity forms part of the background against which girls today form their tastes -- and their values.  This worries me, because it's practically impossible to completely insulate our children from what goes on in the world -- and it's really not a good idea to even try.  Kids have to know what they're inheriting from us, and what they have a responsibility to try to fix if they're going to make their world better.

But what's a Catholic mother to do?

I have my mother's senior picture displayed, along with many images of the Mother of God -- all over the house--  in hopes that these are the models our girls will use to compare against what they see in the world.  I want the gentle smiling face of the Blessed Virgin, in her purity and modesty, to form the background of their decision-making, every morning when they get dressed.  I want them to remember the beautiful, modest image of my mother's senior portrait and aspire to that kind of dignified and graceful beauty.

It's also a good exercise to discreetly comment to the children (the boys and girls) about someone who is inappropriately dressed, judging the outfit, mind you, and not the person.  We say things like, "Well, that would be a really cute shirt if it were a couple sizes bigger," or that dress would be perfect with a satin and lace neckline and sleeves, wouldn't it?"  And we make sure to comment on well-chosen, modest outfits, too.  The Sisters, especially, point this out to the young people, complimenting them to encourage them in wholesome choices.

And, not the least important, we just simply don't buy clothes that are immodest.  Just doesn't happen on my watch.  When the children grow up and begin to buy their own clothes, I continue to observe and remark on how beautiful and how handsome they are -- and how their Guardian Angel would or would not be pleased with how they looked.  And did they consider that when they got dressed this morning? 

It's a choice we need to teach our children gently but firmly:  Decide, dear children, to be beautiful inside and out.

Seven: Not Very Quick

A sun spider -- also
commonly known as
a "scorpion spider."

1.  Woke Up This Morning,
bleary-eyed, and sat down at the computer to try and rouse my brain.  The children were up and milling about vaguely.  Coffee was brewing.  Theresa was fixing herself some cereal; Gabe, completely dressed right down to his backpack since 6 a.m., was urging on William, who had brought his school clothes downstairs to change near the warmth of a heat vent.  In the middle of scanning FB,  I barely registered Theresa saying, nonchalantly, "Oh, look.  There's a sun spider climbing up the curtain."

 And then, in an instant, the quiet morning broke loose.

(And, yes, children, even though I tell you not to do it: here, for effect, we jump into present-tense...)

William, half dressed,  screeches and springs in one bound clear over the dining room table (or so it appeared); he scurries to the kitchen to hide behind me.  Gabe says, "Woah!" and runs for a book to smash the spider -- and hands it to Theresa.

Theresa, the powerful; Theresa, the bold and daring; Theresa, the calm, cool, and collected.

 No sissy maiden, our Theresa takes the last bite of her Cheerios, drinks the milk out of the bottom of the bowl, saunters over to the curtain, flicks the spider on to the floor, drops the book on it and steps on the book.  "Take care of that, Gabe, will you?" she says, then goes and puts her bowl in the sink.  The end.

All I gotta say is:  Look out, boys.  Don't trifle with this one.

2. Colorado Weather:


Cold enough to snow one day, warm enough to do this the next...

Which is a very good thing -- because the 220 for our dryer isn't working...

3.  Care Package Day
Here at Davis Family Homeschool Central:

Serving as Home Ec class with a twist of  Corporal Work of Mercy, the girls are making a batch of cookies (or two or ten) to send off to Kevvy in Denver and the Omaha contingent this afternoon.  The grand plan is for them to arrive in time for Shrove Tuesday.  On the list:  Sour Cream Cookies, Cocounut Sugar Cookies, Chocolate No Bake Cookies, and Banana Bread.  Since we got too late a start to get anything to Paul in Afghanistan, we'll do the cooking for his "Sunday-in-Lent Care Package" ASAP.  And a batch for Nicole and Gavin should be heading out Monday morning!

4. Oh, Yeah, and Did I Forget to Mention...

Anna recently joined Catherine in our home school, leaving just William (Kindergarten), Gabe (1st grade), and Theresa (8th grade) at our parish school down the road.

 As time has gone on, I think we've all felt more and more like we really are homeschoolers at heart, and though our little Catholic school is absolutely wonderful and our teaching Sisters the cream of the crop and dear to our hearts, Anna, as well as Cathy, just thrive better at home.  Next year, after Theresa graduates (our school is a k-8), we'll likely bring everyone back home.

 More on our philosophy and the reality of home schooling vs. conventional schooling some time, I promise.  It being a subject that can be very ticklish, I've started that post several times and blanched at the responsibility of it...  But, I really will tackle it sometime -- before next school year anyway.  I promise!

5.  So, I Asked Anna...
"What else is interesting that I should write about?"  And she said, "Well, Gigi (the kitty) got stuck in a big tree yesterday."

 But seriously -- what's new about that, Anna?  Every time I turn around something's going on with the cats and the trees at this house.  It's all the drama.

***

"Anna, for heaven's sake, how did you get that big scratch on your chin?"

"I was climbing up the bark of the tree and tried to pull up onto a branch and it didn't work."

"What, were you following one of the cats?"
"Not very well, obviously."

 ***

"Noey (the dog) is limping. What happened?"

"She was chasing a cat up a tree."

"And?"

"She didn't get very far."

***
But there's Gigi yesterday, "stuck" in the tree.  Stuck, that is, until the girls come out with a piece of lunch meat to lure her down.  I'm thinking that she wasn't really very stuck.  And it occurs to me that there are a lot of times when I may think I'm really "stuck" on a problem, when a good piece of lunch meat -- or maybe chocolate -- might lure me right out of it.  It's very often the incentive that determines how hard we want to work to get down out of the tree, isn't it?

6.  "Jerry Rigging"
 Originates loosely from "jury rigging" -- On sailing ships, a "jury rig" (from Old French, "ajurie," meaning "help" or" relief") is a replacement mast and yards improvised in case the original mast is lost or damaged.  Over time, it has come to mean any kind of makeshift repair, using only the tools and materials on hand.

This old house we've moved into has required a vast amount of jerry rigging skills. First of all, there are really only two closets in the house.  The only one that is in any way "normal" happens to be in the teensy-weensy downstairs bedroom that we've turned into Dan's office; the other is about the size of a coffin and is in Michelle's room upstairs.  All other closet space has had to be rigged.  But,  though it's unconventional and might illicit good-natured sneers from some (like one of my sons who calls it "ghetto"...),  we've actually ended up with more closet space than we had in the other big, new/er, conventional house we just moved out of.  So, see?  It's all good.

Not that they define us, but our jerry rigged closets are part-and-parcel of the whole package.  And we're at peace with that.  If you can really wade past all the kids, and statues of the saints, and homeschool books, and sheet music, and cookie dough to actually get back to where you can see our funky closets, and you haven't already figured out we're unconventional.....  Well....  The view from the crow's nest might be better, but the mast is jerry-rigged, so you'd better be careful climbing up.

7.  A Picture Thought
What the girls have accomplished while I've been sitting over here at the computer:

Diet?  What diet?

 Lots of Friday Quick Takes (as usual -- most quicker than mine),

being hosted this week by Betty Beguiles, right here!

Because There Are Only Five Coffee Drinking Days Until Lent...

This is what kind of coffee the Quiz People think I am:

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Because There Are Only Six More Days Until Lent...

And because we take Lent very seriously...

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies!
(Makes 4 dozen teeny cookies, or 2 dozen good-sized cookies)

What You Need

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

How To Mix It Up Into Something Scrumptious

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoons full onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

4.  Hide them in a a tupperware container in the freezer marked "liver" and sneak them out at night after the children have gone to bed...

St. Valentine's Day in Review

What had to be cleaned up before the traditional "Boys Serve Girls" St. Valentine's Soiree:

The Attendees

The photographer who refused to have her picture taken...
As well as:

Cathy and Anna



And Theresa
Missing:  Michelle and Aunt Nina! :(

 On the menu:  White fish, wonderfully spiced; shrimp and cocktail sauce; wild rice; asparagus with hollandaise; bread with dipping sauce; sparkling apple juice for the kiddos, wine for me and chef, Daddy.  Sugar free gelato for dessert.

The wait staff:


The "dangerous waiter," William, who miraculously did make it to the table without spilling anything, providing a running commentary on everything, while stealing food off our plates...




And the "safe waiter," Gabe, who delivered everything politely and carefully and did not steal our food.
Here pictured bringing in the shrimp, as you see.




William with the bread.  We didn't trust him to carry in the oil and balsamic vinegar.  The chef did that.



(Anna looking only slightly nervous here...)




Not shown:  all the girls holding their breath while William (who insisted that this was part of his job) refills Theresa's glass of sparkling apple juice.



A little dinner theater while we ate:



A sort of monkey puppet show thing, courtesy of Gabey...



And this:

 

 

It was lovely, as always.

(Check out my gift from William:  a "Be Mine" ring that fit only on the end of my pinky finger -- which is where William informed me it was supposed to go. " Exactly". )

We missed all the usual wait staff and assistant chefs, I tell you!  But we know they were here in spirit.(We love and miss our valentine servants, Paul, Kevvy, Jon and Br. Pio!) 

Now the countdown begins for the traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner -- this one cooked and served chiefly by the girls. Stay tuned!

On St. Valentine's Day

Repost from 2009:

The Many Faces of Love

Courtesy of Norman Rockwell

Puppy Love...

Romantic Love...

Contented Love...

Love For God's Creatures...

Friendship...

Love for country...
Parental Love...

Love for Family...

Love for mankind...
 Love for God...

Perfect Love...

*This last photo, God's handiwork.

Prank Calls

Ring, Ring, Ring!

(snickersnickersnicker)

Click:

" Hello.  Piggly Wiggly." (A southeastern U.S. grocery chain.)

(Pause; the sound of breathing and muffled laughter...)

"Do you have Prince Edward?  In a can?"

"Let me check."  (Pause, pause, pause) "Yes, we do."

"Well, you better let him out before he suffocates!"  BWAHAHAHAHA!

Click.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That one is a 1950s prank my mother tells us they pulled a few times before all the stores got wise to it.  But the following is a classic that we tried in the seventies:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ring, Ring, Ring!
Click:
"Hello"
"Hello?"

"Yes?"
 "How may I help you, Sir?"



"Excuse me, you're the one who just called me!'
"Sorry sir, but you just called me."
"No, you are the one who called me."
 "Who is this?"
"Who is that??"

Etc.,etc.,
The person may hang up or you might do so first.
You can call the same person up after some time and say...
"It's you again! I'm going to report you to the cops!"
Click.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And then, there are these examples ~ every one a classic:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ring, Ring, Ring! 
 Click:
"Hi! Is your refigerator running?"
 If they say "Yes," tell them they'd better run and catch it. 
 But, if they've heard the joke before and say "No," reply:  Oh, well, this is Sears Home Repair Service, we'll be right over!"
Click.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ring, Ring, Ring!
Click:
"Hello, this is Denver International Airport's complimentary paging service.  Please speak clearly the name of the party you would like paged, followed by its spelling..."
"Yes, hello.  We're hoping to locate a Mr. Tabooger: T-A-B-O-O-G-E-R. Mr. Ollie Tabooger."

Or, alternatively: "Miss Huggenkiss: H-U-G-G-E-N-K-I-S-S.  Amanda Huggenkiss."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ring, Ring, Ring!
Click: 
"The Library Bar and Grill, Mike speaking."

"Yes. Hi.  I'm looking for someone I think is there, my buddy, Al...  Can you page him?  His name is  Mr. Coholic... Al Coholic."
Mike, overheard, saying to the people at the bar: "Is there an Al Coholic here?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Backstory:  A young man (a senior in high school) who is a dear family friend let slip on FB that he and oldest daughter, Michelle, had indulged in a little prank calling over the summer when we were all together.  Sheesh!  Like I wasn't going to see that, kids?  Seriously!  See what happens when  you friend a Mom on FB -- and then brag about prank calling?

Not only does she gets to reminiscing about all the prank calling she did as a youth, but she blogs about it.

Ha!
 But no worries, kids.  Though I cannot condone this behaviour and keep my parent-in-good-standing license, I have to say that prank calls are truly a right of passage.  They're the natural progeny of our pre-telephone ancestor's pranks.

 You know the sorts of things they did, don't you?  Back in my grandparent's day, bands of teenagers would switch cow herds from one farm to another in the middle of the night to see how long it took the farmers to notice.  Or they'd disassemble tractors and re-assemble them on the roofs of barns.  Or knock over outhouses.  Or city kids would completely block the entrances to storefronts or grease the front steps of apartment buildings... Yikes!  Can you imagine?

All things being relative, I'd say crank calls were a perfectly fine alternative.

But, don't call me, 'cause I just might turn the tables on you, kids.

Hugs and a Shout Out to Omar and his partners in crime.  You're over this stage, right? 
Warning to all Davis children and friends of Davis children under 16:  I never said any of the above. And I'm gonna be really annoyed if I hear you've tried any of these pranks.  Let it be known!