Reflections from Downtown

Yesterday, the kids and I headed out on the Blue Line and went to downtown LA. They had a blast on the light rail train. We arrived downtown underground just like a subway in New York. The kids thought that was cool. I was secretly praying that there wouldn't be an earthquake.

Once out in the open air, we were caught in the frenzied lunch rush from all the office workers leaving their high rise buildings. We decided we were hungry too, so we walked across the street right to a little outdoor mall. Lots of eateries. Chinese food sounded good so we ate at Panda Express. We were lucky enough to find a place to sit down.

That's when the thoughts invaded my head. Everywhere you looked were what seemed to be high powered men and women. Nice clothes, nice shoes, nice everything. Taking a break from their high powered jobs for a bite to eat. I wondered about them. What were their lives like? Did they have a happy home life? Did these men have a wife at home caring for their children? Or did their wives also have a nice career? Did these women have a family or were they focused and driven in their careers? Did they go to far away cities on business, go to dinner parties?

For a brief moment, I envied them. For a brief moment I wished I had a career with a high salary. I wished that I could yak it up with the rest of them out there in an adult conversation.

But then I looked at the faces of my beautiful children sitting right in front of me. How privileged I was to be able to sit with them and listen to what was in their hearts, even if it was silly. How could I wish for something different? I love the life I am living. How thankful to God I am, that at this time, this moment, I can be here for them. I can be a stay at home mom. Financially, it is hard. There may come the time, that I will have to go back to work outside the home.

We finished our lunch, took a little walk to look around at all the unique buildings, then took the train back to our car. We went home to our normal life. The place we like the best. We waited for dad to come home to tell him all about our trip.

I thank God that He has placed me where I am right now.

Hello There!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted. I've been busy enjoying the last couple of week doing things with the kids before they head back to school.

This is their last week to enjoy their vacation. Even though the bickering drives me crazy at times, I will miss having them around.

Let's see, what have we done?

---Swimming, and swimming, and more swimming!
---Play Spongebob Monopoly many times!
---Read!
---Do some cleaning (a little :)
---Visit Grandma and have lunch with her
---Visit Dad for lunch
---Watch TV
---See fireworks at Disney*land
---Go to the zoo
---Play basketball
---And of course, do the spontaneous stuff that kids love to do like talent shows, play store, paint, color, etc., etc.

I'm sure there are some other things that I'm forgetting, but we've had lots of fun in spite of bickering.

This week, my plans are to make sure the kids all have their supplies together for the first day of school. We need to label their items. I think I still need to find a plastic shoe box that both of them need. I hope to take them a couple more times to the pool before it closes for the summer. The last day is Sunday. I also hope to take them to downtown LA on the metro line. It's a light rail transit system and they've always wanted to go on it. We can catch it by my mom's house and it will take us to downtown LA right where the skyscrapers are. There is a mall there and we can have some lunch, look around a bit, then head on back.

This has been a pretty mild summer, weather wise, than I thought it would be. I was expecting lots of days in the 90's, but pretty much it's stayed in the low to mid 80's. I'm not going to complain about that. I'm looking forward to the Fall. It's my favorite time of the year.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Emily's Daring Plunge

I'm so proud of Emily. She took her plunge off the diving board (with some help)! Ryan didn't want me to post his plunge, so I didn't. The video is grainy because it was taken off of my camera.

WAY TO GO EMILY!!

A Giveaway!

Suzy is hosting a giveaway at her Scraps of Starlight blog! You can have a chance to win an original print of hers. If you' ve been at her site, Sailing by Starlight, you know what a gifted, artistic soul she is.



She has also set up an Etsy Shop. Go take a look at all her goodies. Lots of beautiful items!

Old Treasures

I love reading prayer books and general Catholic books written pre-Vatican II. I find that they are very concise and straight to the point about what it means to be a Catholic. The prayers are often beautiful and God centered rather than me centered. I learn a lot from those type of books. And they help me in my prayer life.

I wanted to share a couple of these treasures.

My mother recently found this book at her house when she was doing some digging around. My father had ordered this some time in 1964. At least that's what is written in the front of the book. This book is called My Catholic Faith by the Most Reverend Louis Laravoire Morrow, S.T.D. It was printed in 1949. It contains information about what Catholics believe and even information about the hierarchy of the Church. It is written in Q & A format and has those Catholic illustrations that seem to abound in old books.

Sorry for the blurry picture. My camera doesn't take close-ups very well. This is a shot of the chapter about Sins Against Truth.

What is a LIE?

A lie is something said for the purpose of deceiving others, which we know or suspect to be untrue.

A lie expresses opposition between one's word and one's thought; it implies the intention to deceive by stating what is false.

Lying is a sin even when it may be the means of effecting much good; we must not commit evil in order to obtain good.

Further questions asked are: When does a person commit the sin of Rash Judgement? When does a person commit the sin of Detraction? When does a person commit the sin of Calumny or Slander?

I happened to google this book and came up with an on-line version. It is not the complete book but it has a lot of information. You can find it HERE.

The other old book I'd like to share is this prayer book that my mother gave me. She has an exact copy from my grandmother, which was in better condition, so she gave me her own copy. I love that it is worn. It shows that it was used a lot. I have so many fond memories of this book, even though it's in Spanish. Ever since I can remember, my mother has belonged to a Rosary prayer group. Once a month she has gotten together with other ladies and said the Rosary as a group and then shared a meal together. She has been the official leader in the recitation of the Rosary and she always used this prayer book, which had a Rosary novena prayer and a litany of the Blessed Mother.

This prayer book is called El Devocionario Para Todos (The Devotional For Everyone). It was printed in 1942. Aside from the Rosary prayers, it has meditations, Gospel readings, novenas, and many more prayers. It is just a treasure to me. Besides the spiritual aspect, it is such a wonderful reminder of my mother. It is something that gave her strength and was important in her relationship with God.

I have a few other old gems, but so far, these are my favorites!

Earthquake!

Yikes! We just had an earthquake here! I was here on the computer and the kids were watching TV when we felt a jolt, then a shaking. I gathered everyone up and we went to a doorway, which is what we are supposed to do. It continued to roll for awhile then finally stopped. There is no damage here and we are all fine. Just a little shaken. We have phone coverage and electricity.

According to the TV, it was a 5.8 which is a decent size quake. It was centered about 20 miles northeast of here (more or less). Steve was at work and he said that he felt it strong where he is. That's kind of weird as he is further west than I am. But he works in a big building so maybe that's why. Cell phone coverage is out. Systems must be overloaded.

I hope people are safe where the epicenter is. I would be watching the news right now, but I want the kids to get their minds off the quake so we'll watch some Spongebob. It's also time for lunch so I'm off to fix that.


ETA: News is now reporting the earthquake was 5.4. Still big enough for me!

Swimming, Swimming, and More Swimming!

Gosh, I hadn't realized how long it had been since I last posted!

I've been consumed with the swimming pool! Ryan and Emily started swim lessons last week and since they were a little scared of doing some stuff in the water, I've been taking them to the pool at the park to get them used to the water a little more. Back floats and dunking their heads in the water have been their weak spots. I take them around the pool on my back and have them practice their kicking. That gets me a little tired after awhile. I try to help them with their back floating, but that's a little trickier. They both don't like to have the back of their heads in the water. But we do what's comfortable for them so they don't freak out. That would defeat the purpose. I'm trying to make everything fun while trying to practice what they need to be learning. And, little by little, they're making progress. They're not as afraid any more, and they're just now starting to dunk their heads all the way down!

So, I'm a little tuckered out right now. Along with the swimming, we still have basketball practices and games to go to. Luckily, this is the last week of swimming lessons. I wish basketball was over, but both Kathryn and Ryan's teams have playoffs. I don't know how the playoffs will work as this is our first year of basketball. I secretly hope our teams lose so we can be finished! I know that sounds awful, but Kathryn and Ryan are tired of it already, too!

I don't know how all you soccer moms out there do it. I get tired of all the running around. I guess by now, you're probably wondering why I sign up the kids for all these sports. Well, aside from the swimming, which was my idea, Steve is the one that enjoys all these sporting things and he signs them up. He loves doing this stuff with the kids and they enjoy it, too (most of the time)! I enjoy it, too, but up to a point. Once it starts to get me frazzled with the running around from place to place, I'm ready to hang it all up. That's where I'm at right now.

I haven't had a chance to upload some pictures lately, but I hope to get to it soon. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Sorry if this post sounded a little whiny. I do love my life and wouldn't trade it for anything!

I Need New Glasses!!

I'm now starting to feel officially middle-aged. I desperately need bifocals!! When I had my eyes checked two or three years ago, the optometrist said I didn't need them yet, as my close-up vision was still pretty good (I'm near-sighted -- I can see things close-up without my glasses but not far away). I could read with or without my glasses. Now, it's gotten to the point where I can't read at all with my glasses. I have to put everything more than an arm's length away to see it! So, I just take off my glasses to read or do close-up work. My arms are getting a lot of exercise taking them on and off, on and off. If I were far-sighted it would be a little better because I could place the glasses on my nose, just so, and I could look above the glasses to see far away and through the glasses at my book, knitting, or whatever. But when you're near sighted, you don't have a place to put your glasses. Maybe paste them at the eyebrows so they'll be at eye level for far away stuff and just look down below the glasses for the close-up stuff. I know that doesn't make any sense, but since I am nearsighted, I understand myself! LOL! Maybe those of you who are also nearsighted can get what I'm trying to get across!! Main thing - I can't see close-up while wearing my glasses.





So, it's time to see the eye doctor. I first have to check on my insurance and refresh my memory about what's covered. If I remember correctly, it didn't cover much. It covered a very little amount for the glasses so I've ended up paying a whole lot.

I took Ryan and Kathryn to get a few uniform items for school. Kathryn needed a bigger size skirt and Ryan needed an extra pair of pants and shorts. Thankfully the uniform place was not crowded. I was afraid there would be a huge wait. Not good when I have Emily! So, we were there for a short time, then we met Steve at work and had some lunch. We always love meeting him for lunch.

Kathryn has basketball practice tonight. Let's hope that Emily can get through that time without falling down. My goodness, it seems like the last three times she's gone, she somehow falls down on the cement and scrapes her knees, elbows, hands, etc. One thing for sure, she lives hard!

I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but I need to get a first aid kit for the car. I have a few band-aids in my purse, but I need some in all shapes. I just bought some Neosporin to Go.

Now I'm off to clean out the refrigerator. That's my first step before making out my menu for the next week. I hope there's not too many science experiments in there!

Blessings, everyone!

What I've Been Up To

I've just been taking it easy and trying to keep the kids occupied so they won't get on each other's nerves.

Earlier in the week, we went to Universal City Walk (an outdoor shopping area) near Universal Studios. We had some lunch, spent an accidental fortune on candy, and just enjoyed window shopping. Regarding the candy, the store is one of those where you choose your own in a bag and pay by weight. As I was helping Emily get her 1/4 of a lb amount, Kathryn went on her own and loaded up on Jelly Beans and M&M's. She thought you just filled up the bag with whatever you wanted. Of course, the rules are, once you get the candy, you just can't put it back. The total ended up being something like $20.00. Too much for our pocketbook, on candy, no less!!!

This is Emily enjoying some of Kathryn's loot!

Steve painted Kathryn's room. It's now a BRIGHT pink. A very modern look for our cool girl!

This is just a swatch of the color. It's much brighter in real life.

The kids had lots of basketball practice going on. Games are usually on the weekend.

We've done some reading and worked on Math skills.

We had this visitor in our house the other day.




When Ryan and Emily came running into my room saying there was some kind of big bug flying in the living room, I was secretly panicking because I was so hoping it would not be a flying cockroach. Those things FREAK ME OUT!!!! I need Steve to handle that stuff but he was at work, so I had to be the grown up and take care of the situation. I was so relieved when I saw that it was just one of these beetles. I don't know what they're really called but we call them Japanese Beetles. They have a really pretty fluorescent green shell. We seem to get these in the house every so often. I don't know how they get in, but when we find one, we get it and send it back outside. It makes a buzzing noise like the June bugs.

Yesterday was the start of our county fair. I love going there every year. I usually go twice - once with the kids and once just Steve and I. The kids don't usually care to spend lots of time looking at the foods and crafts on display. I enjoy looking at all that stuff. I have to take snapshots of beautiful crocheted and knitted items for inspiration! That reminds me I need to continue with the Minnie Mouse afghan!!

Here's a snapshot of the books I'm reading right now. I usually try to read one book at a time, but I couldn't resist when I saw these at the local library and my church library.

Love's Abiding Joy by Janette Oke - 4th in the Love Comes Softly series

This is a wonderful story about living in the frontier West.

Come Be My Light - writings of Blessed Mother Teresa

Excellent insights into her life

Only Heroic Catholic Families Will Survive - Fr. Robert J. Fox

These are great essays and articles written by an assortment of people about family life, marriage, parenthood, and what it truly means to be a Catholic family in today's culture.

So, I'm enjoying these warm summer days, just doing the simple things with my family.

I hope you're all enjoying your summer. And for those of you Down Under, I hope you're staying warm and cozy!

Menu Plan Monday

Here is my planned menu for the week:

Monday: Tasty Onion Chicken, Zucchini Rice Pilaf, salad

Tuesday: Chili, tortilla chips, cornbread, fruit

Wednesday: Hamburgers, roasted potatoes w/onion soup mix, fruit salad

Thursday: Beef n'Cheese French bread, salad

Friday: tacos, rice and pinto beans

Saturday: pizza, salad

Sunday: spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

For more great menu plans, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie

A Tag

Tracy tagged me for this fun meme:

Four, Four, Four, Four.....

A. Four places that I go to over and over:

1. grocery store
2. church
3. Target
4. My mom's house

B. Four people who email me regularly:

I hardly get any personal emails :( I do get frequent ones from the following:
1. Steve (from work)
2. my kid's school
3. Lion Brand Yarn
4. Borders books

C. My favorite 4 places to eat:

1. Ruby's
2. Super Mex
3. Red Lobster
4. Souplantation
D. Four places I would rather be right now:

1. a cabin in the mountains
2. a beach house
3. Hawaii
4. colonial Williamsburg

E. Four people I think will respond:

1. SuzyQ
2. GrandmaK
3. Mitzi
4. Kimberly

F. Four TV shows I watch all the time:

1. Lost
2. The Next Food Network Star
3. Supernanny
4. Mass on EWTN

G. Four words that describe you:

1. shy
2. considerate
3. non-confrontational
4. pensive

H. Four favorite "old school" Hollywood actors/actresses:

1. Frank Sinatra
2. Jimmy Stewart
3. Spencer Tracy
4. Bing Crosby

I. Four favorite "old school" television game shows:

1. Press Your Luck
2. Concentration
3. Let's Make a Deal
4. Password

J. Four favorite "old school" television shows:

1. I Love Lucy
2. Dick Van Dyke Show
3. Twilight Zone
4. The Brady Bunch

K. List four things you liked best about Christmas when you were a child:

1. scent of the tree
2. family get together
3. Christmas music
4. Christmas TV specials

L. List four things you liked best about Halloween when you were a child:

1. cheap costumes from Savon
2. candy
3. trick or treating
4. my dad scaring kids at the door

M. List four things you did not like about growing up:

1. strict parents not allowing me to do many social activities w/friends
2. feeling left out
3. having to take the bus to school
4. feeling dorky

N. List 4 events that impacted your life:

1. having an Evangelical witness to me in college (caused me to search further in the Catholic faith)
2. my marriage
3. birth of my children
4. death of my father

I tag those listed in letter E.

History of Religion

I've been busy doing things around the house, shuttling kids to games and practices, and just plain trying to keep my head above water. So I'll just post this until I get a chance to do a longer one.

This is a very interesting map.





H/T Steve Ray

My Son Wants to Be A Zookeeper??

Ryan has such a strong interest in all kinds of animals. He reads all kinds of books about them, loves watching Animal Planet, and plays with all kinds of animal toys. He wants to be a zookeeper when he grows up.

So, we recently got him the Zoo Tycoon computer game. I'm not too sure how it goes, but the gist of it is that you get to build your own zoo, complete with animals, attractions, concession stands, etc.etc. You get money to construct buildings and buy the animals and make sure you provide the right kind of environment for your animals. You make sure they are fed, have room to roam, play and whatever else you need to do to make them happy. You also need to make the zoo enjoyable for people to visit so you can make some money. The more the merrier, I guess.

I really haven't had the time to sit with him and go through all the directions so he pretty much is experimenting and I'm around if he needs some help.

So, I went off to do something and after a long while, he comes looking for me to show me what he did. He decided to buy 54 elephants! He wanted to see what they would do. The area that he put them in was too small for that amount of elephants and apparently the fence was too low. The elephants started to break out of the enclosure and attack the guests! Oh my goodness! They started swinging at them with their trunks. Apparently the guests took off because there were then something like 19 guests in the whole zoo. After a while the computer froze - too much action going on perhaps.

Obviously, Ryan is a little young for this game. He's still too young to figure out all the complexities of running a zoo, but he has lots of fun just bringing in the different animals and providing a proper environment for them. He likes to see them walk around, eat, or just roll around in the dirt. He doesn't care when a message comes up saying the guests are upset that there are not enough restrooms, the soda cart has broken down, or that the giraffes are getting sick and dying. He just loves playing around with anything that has to do with animals. His curiosity is amazing to watch.

I'll leave with this picture of Ryan (along with Emily, who insisted on being in the picture). He's also a heart stealer!

I Survived!

Today was the first day of summer vacation and I SURVIVED! I had to referee a few arguments but overall, we kept our cool.

Kathryn told me she needs a new bathing suit. I just bought her one last year and it was a little big, so I told her to try it on. It fit fine. Then Emily asked to try hers on. Hers is getting tight so she will need one. Well, since they had their suits on, they wanted to go in the pool. It needs to be inflated and since it would take a while, I told them they could go in the sprinkler. That worked out great and they had a good time, except the three times Kathryn ran back in the house because of the bee that was flying around. By the third time, I told her she better just stay in the house. The others decided to stay in as well, so that was the end of that.

I'll try to get the pool pumped up this weekend.

Tonight we went to the Angels game. Tickets were $5 each so that was an unbelievable price. The Angels lost but we had fun. I had to get up and walk with Emily a couple of times but she lasted for almost 9 innings.

Tomorrow, I have my hair appointment so I'll be taking the kids to my mom's so she can watch them. We'll also have lunch with her. Then it's basketball practice for Ryan.

In between, I'll clean and cook. The usual.

Blessings to everyone!

RIP Tim Russert

I was saddened to hear the news about the death of Tim Russert. Although I don't watch much of the Sunday talk shows, I would occasionally watch Meet the Press, especially when Mary Matalin and James Carville would be on together. I was always impressed with his fairness and his style. He didn't get me angry like some others are wont to do. I guess I just plain liked him.

I would like to read the book he wrote about his father, Big Russ and Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life. I see that it's number one on the Amazon list.

May he rest in peace.

Random

The week so far has been spent doing lots of yard work, getting rid of overgrown plants and pulling weeds. Also, we're getting a new screen door for the front, so I cleaned the front porch area. I know entrances look nicer without one, but we love to have our front door open in the summer, especially in the evening time when the cool breezes come. But we don't want the mosquitoes and other bugs to come in with it!

I didn't get around to doing another menu plan this week because I'm still following the one from last week. The Chicken with Orzo came out great and so did the Pizza Noodle Bake. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of them because I didn't think of it. I'm not used to taking pictures of my meals. I guess because everyone knows what chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and tacos look like (frequent meals around here)! LOL!

Summer vacation is right around the corner - next Tuesday as a matter of fact. I'm looking forward to getting to sleep in a little bit longer - not too much longer, though, as I like to start my day with some quiet time while everyone is still sleeping. Ryan and Kathryn have both started basketball this summer. I'm not too thrilled, but I won't get into that!:)

I got some gas this morning for 4.35 a gallon. That was the best I could find and that was at Costco. The lines there are so long, at times, six or seven deep! It reminds me of the lines back in the 70's (I know, I'm dating myself)! The gas station closest to me was already at 4.59! I don't know how much more of an increase we can take! I wish I had a smaller car but we need the space that my minivan offers.

Well, I think I'll take out my knitting and have a go at it!

Meme

I was tagged by Cathy from A Bit of the Blarney to do this fun meme. It looked easy, but once I got to thinking, it was a little bit hard to come up with ten people.

Ten people I'd like to spend ten minutes with (in no particular order):

---Pope Benedict XVI
---Clarence Thomas
---Frank Sinatra
---President Bush
---Mother Angelica
---David Eckstein (shortstop for Toronto Blue Jays)
---Jim Caviezel
---Blessed Mother
---Archbishop Chaput
---Paula Deen

And number 11 would have to be all my blogging pals. I'd love to meet all of you and have a little chat!

Menu Plan Monday

Yea! I finally got organized enough to plan my menu again! It's been quite a while and I've just been flying by the seat of my pants in regards to planning my menu- as in, I haven't been doing it. So now, it's the start of a new month and here is my planned menu:

Monday: Ryan's baseball team has a pizza party so no cooking today! Just some good pizza at the parlor.

Tuesday: Tacos, Spanish rice and beans

Wednesday: Pizza Noodle Bake with Cornbread

Thursday: Chicken with Orzo

Friday: Spaghetti with French bread and a salad

Saturday: Homemade Chili with cornbread

Sunday: Sole Fillets, rice, steamed vegetables

For dessert this week, I plan to make some chocolate chip walnut cookies. Also, I have some bags of frozen blueberries to use up so I plan to make Blueberry Oat muffins and some blueberry shortcake.

To see other menu plans, visit Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

A Trip to the Wild Animal Park

We had a wonderful trip to the Wild Animal Park this past weekend. The weather was great and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Emily and Kathryn enjoyed trying on the masks.

Here's a momma giraffe with her baby!

Some lionesses lounging around.

Rhinos are much bigger than I thought!

Kathryn got a beautiful flower painted on her face.

We had a wonderful time. I'm sure we'll be back again!

Happy Birthday Emily!

My baby turned 4 on Saturday!

Catching Up

Last weekend was tournament weekend and we all had a great time. Kathryn's team didn't do so well (they lost all their games and didn't score one goal), but it was a good experience for her team. Most all the teams in the tournament were competetive teams meaning they practice almost everyday and just go around playing in tournaments. Kathryn's team is your basic recreational soccer team. And believe me, you can tell the difference. They were a little intimidated at first because all the other teams they played were so good. But by the third game, they were a little less shell shocked and just played the best they could. They even made the other team sweat a little bit! :) Kathryn's has a wonderful coach and she explained to them that she didn't put them in this tournament so they could get smeared by the opponents. She put them in so they could have some experience playing against better teams and raise their level of play and just to have some fun playing in a tournament. In spite of the outcome, they all had a super time and so did the parents. Last weekend was super hot, but playing by the beach was great. We had ocean breezes the whole time!

Kathryn in her uniform.

This picture is kind of hard to see but it's a shot of Kathryn standing next to a girl on the other team. This other girl is probably over six feet tall! And these are 10 year old girls! It was kind of hard to play defense against her!

Remember the story about my trees? Well, I had a visit from the supervisor of tree maintenance for my city. He looked around, checked the roots, checked the dirt, and said the trees were getting too much water! My trees are Holly Oaks and he said these trees don't need a lot of water. He suggested I change the schedule for my sprinkler system so that the trees don't get as much water. I can't believe that we are the only homeowners who are watering around the trees so much, but our trees are almost the only ones that look the way they do. The tree man said that over time, if the trees get too much water, they will start looking like ours. I find it a little odd that watering a tree too much will make it look like ours but I guess I'll start watering around the tree less. I'll have to adjust the sprinklers and make sure the water is not hitting the tree trunks and set the timer for a shorter amount of time. I'll have to find the right balance so that the grass doesn't suffer and turn all yellow, especially in the coming hot summer months.

I also had a visit from the plumber this week. We've had two leaks on the faucets outside of our house for the longest time, but we finally had to call when my kids tried to pull the backyard garden hose to the front yard, even though it wouldn't reach. I don't know why they didn't realize that we have a hose in the front. Well, they pulled and pulled until it popped out of the faucet, taking with it some ring part of the faucet! Kathryn came in the house saying something happened with the hose so when I went out to look, I saw the water gushing out of the faucet. It looked much worse than it actually was. But, the plumber needed to be called because now that the hose was no longer attached, I could see how much water was really leaking out. Enough to leave the ground in a puddle.

Luckily the plumber just had to put some new part. He did the same thing to our leak in the front yard and that was that. I was thinking since the leaks were there for a while that we would have some damage on some old pipes, but he said they didn't look too bad. So I think we made out pretty good.

Tomorrow we're off to the wild animal park for a day with the animals!

Tournament Weekend

Kathryn is playing in her first soccer tournament this weekend and we are all excited. It's going to be hot over here but where she's playing is real close to the beach so we should have nice cool breezes.

Kathryn will be playing two games today and in between I need to take Ryan for a haircut. I've delayed it so many times already that he really couldn't go much longer without him starting to look too unkempt.

This past week has been mostly spent doing some spring cleaning of our patio. The weather has been very warm so I've hosed down the patio, cleaned windows, dusted cobwebs, beat out some old mats and just did some sprucing up. While out there, I'm sure finding a lot of those black beetles I mentioned before. I think I'm kind of getting used to them now. I'm not so freaked out.

Well, I'm off to the tournament. I hope I can take some decent pictures to post later.
I'll leave with this link for a free Fruitista Freeze from Taco Bell if you like that type of food. It looks delicious, especially on a nice warm day!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers!!

Photo Credit: Thank you to Esther!

Weekend Update (the previous one - hee hee)

Aside from the usual sporting activities, we (the whole family) made a trip to a nice library in the city next to us. It's a nice, new huge one. The kids had a ball. They have a wonderful children's section with lots of computers and even a few for younger kids that are already loaded with learning programs. Even 3 yr old Emily could play some toddler games and listen to stories. There were a couple of tables with wooden puzzles that little ones like to play with. Plenty of kids DVD's, CD's, and books on tape/CD. And of course, a wonderful section of books! I would have loved this when I was a kid!

I didn't get a chance to take a peek at the adult books, but I'll get around to it when I can get away by myself. Oh yeah, and this library has self-checkout! It's very interesting how I can just lay some books on this square thingie, and through the magic of radio waves (so said the librarian), it can "read" what books I'm checking out and print out all the information on a little receipt! When I return books, I put them in a slot in the wall and a conveyor belt takes them and automatically sorts them into the proper bin for shelving. You can see the whole procedure on a computer screen. I am quite impressed!

My Emily had a tough weekend. On Saturday, she was being pulled in a wagon by Kathryn, in the kitchen no less, and started to get up while it was starting to move and fell out of it, hitting her chin on the floor. I thought she was going to have some broken teeth because all I saw was her face hitting the floor. She made it through with no broken teeth but a badly bruised chin. It got really red, but no skin was cut. Then on Sunday at church, while busily talking with Ryan, she tripped on the steps and hit her forehead on the edge of one of the steps. I could actually hear it making contact. Steve picked her up, she was crying so hard, and right away a big lump appeared right above her eye. Thank God nothing happened to her eye. We kept a real close watch on her to make sure she was acting normal, we asked her questions and she was able to answer them correctly. She was bruised, but again, no major gashes or anything like that. Then, later on that day, she's running (I guess she was feeling good) from the hallway into the living room and falls again, this time right on her tailbone, but thankfully it's only an inconvenience for a minute or two and she's OK. My word, her guardian angel has been working overtime!
I'm just glad I didn't have to make any trips to the emergency room. I would've hated to be placed under a cloud of suspicion because of all her recent injuries!
Now, she's just a little black on her eyelid and mostly has that yellow tinge that comes after some bad bruises.

I finally finished watching Gone With the Wind. I really enjoyed it. I loved the Scarlett character, even though she was so spoiled and selfish. I have the book somewhere in my bookshelf. I'll have to dust it off and read it sometime.
Now it's back to watching The Waltons. I never saw it when it was originally on TV so I've started with Season One. I haven't made up my mind yet about whether I really like it enough to rent the other seasons, but I guess I like it enough to finish this first one.

Regarding my trees, my plan is to first talk with my gardener. Maybe he has some suggestions. Maybe they need more water or some pruning. If he doesn't know, I'll ask at the nursery. Then as my last resort, I'll call the city again. Since the trees are on the parkway and that's considered city property or something like that, they're the ones that would have to do any pruning or tree care taking.

I think you are now all caught up with things going on in my household! Thanks for visiting!

What's Been Going On

I've been busy catching up on some reading. I've had St. Frances de Sales book Introduction to the Devout Life sitting on my nightstand for what seems like forever. There are so many things to ponder that I was trudging, wanting to savor or reflect on what I just read, until I finally decided to just go ahead and read at a regular pace and just wait for something to really jump out at me. I figured the Holy Spirit would lead me to where I needed to concentrate. So I'm finally making headway with the book and should be finished soon.

Another book that I recently finished but want to re-read is Dressing with Dignity by Colleen Hammond. This book really opened my eyes about how the way we dress can be an occasion of sin for others, especially men. It's made me really think about modest dressing and whether I will be making changes in how I dress. I haven't sorted it out yet but I'm praying about it.

I'm still working on the Minnie Mouse afghan. I also started working on a knitted dishcloth, but I made a mistake, dropped a stitch and will have to do some ripping out of stitches. I've always had problems correcting mistakes in knitting because I don't quite know what to do. My knitting teacher, back when I was taking the knitting class, showed me what to do so I was beginning to recognize exactly what kind of mistake I made and make the correction. Well, I couldn't make heads or tails of my mistake so I think I need to rip out the stitches. I easily get intimidated when these things happen and end up just putting the thing away for a while. I don't want to do that this time. I will forge ahead!

I'm also still trying to finish watching Gone With the Wind. The only time I get a chance to watch it is when the kids are in bed. By then, I'm so tuckered out that I only get to watch about 15 or 20 minutes before I start dozing off! But, I'm enjoying it so far.

I think I have some sick, hopefully not dead, trees in my front yard. There's hardly any leaves on them and they just look so bare! All the other trees in the neighborhood look normal, but somethings not right with mine.

This is what my tree should look like right now. Nice and bushy, giving lots of shade.

This is one of my trees. It looks pretty sparse.

This is the other tree. Quite pathetic.

I called the city to come investigate, but of course no human answered the phone, so I left a message with the tree maintenance supervisor to have someone come out to take a look. I haven't seen anyone from the city around, so I don't know if they came around or not. I haven't gotten a call back either. I'll have to call again this coming week. I'm going to miss the shade this summer!

Well, I'm off to relax for the rest of the night. Shall I attempt to watch Gone With the Wind?

Saturday

Today started out with Kathryn's soccer game. Her team won 4-0 so that was great. Right after that, we headed out to my great-niece's 2yr birthday party. We had a great time even though it was super hot! It was held at a park but thankfully, there was lots of shade. Later, all the kids got to go in the sprinkler they had going. I didn't know there would be one at this park so I didn't bring any change of clothes or towels or anything. But no one cared. It was so hot anyway, they all dried up with the heat pretty fast anyway. They had a blast so that's what counts.

Tomorrow, we are off to the Youth Expo. There will be lots of exhibits from the youth of our county (I think). Kathryn's mission will be on display as well as those of her classmates. Her class had a field trip there yesterday, so she got a sneak preview. She says her mission got first place, but I think actually they all got blue ribbons.



I made a discovery today. I think this summer, we (meaning our area) are going to have an abundance of black beetles. I saw two of them this morning in our garage. Yuck! Then I saw a couple at Kathryn's soccer game. Then I saw one at the party today! I'm not sure if they are stag beetles, but they're big and black. Maybe they're ground beetles? I just hope they don't find a way into the house.

Now, I'm off to watch Gone With the Wind. I've never seen it before and I thought I'd give it a try. Sometimes, nothing beats watching an old classic movie!

Saturday

Tonight I got to have an unexpected date night with Steve! My brother and SIL had tickets to the Angel's game against the Seattle Mariners that they couldn't attend so Steve and I got to go in their place!

We had a great time! I ate some Chinese food (YUM) and some peanuts. I still can't quite get over how the ballpark food has changed since 20 or so years ago. It used to be that all you could get were hot dogs, peanuts, pretzels, ice cream ( and even that was just the stuff in the container with the wooden spoon) and the other traditional baseball fare. Tonight I had a choice of some pizza, Chinese food, Car*ls Jr., Mexican food, gourmet this, gourmet that. Lots of choices. It was almost hard to pick!

It was a little chilly, but it was still nice to be in the fresh air and have some nice conversation. Oh yeah, the Angels won 4-1.

Tomorrow I hope to be able to attend the Latin Mass at a local church. I've gone before and loved it so I'd like to attend another one. I think seeing the Pope has gotten me yearning for some Latin/choral music. It will be soothing to my soul.

By the way, if you like listening to choral music, you can listen on line at this site.

Monday

I'm tired! I've been busy this weekend helping Kathryn with her California Mission project. Most every 4th grader in California has to do one of these projects so it's sort of a rite of passage in elementary school. She had her written report turned in a while ago, but tomorrow her mission model is due. Kathryn helped out some, but Steve and I did a lot of the work. Is that the way it ends up going? Some of these kids turn in beautiful, exact replicas of the missions. I don't see how they can do such precise work without lots of involvement from mom or dad. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of it, but I accidentally left it at my mom's house.

Emily had a dentist appointment today. She did very well with her cleaning. She just loves going there. The fist thing she said when she woke up this morning was, "Do I get to go to the dentist today?" Of course they just love her over there because she's so cooperative with them. When she was finished, she received her courtesy Cinderella toothbrush and a sticker. She was thrilled.

I'm so excited about the Pope's visit to our country tomorrow. I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say to us. I pray that he can rekindle the fire for some lukewarm Catholics as well as for all the faithful flock. His theme is "Christ our Hope." You can watch complete coverage on EWTN. That would be better that watching the secular media. I'm sure they will be having commentary from priests and others who dissent from the truth of what the Church teaches.

Now that the mission work is completed, the rest of the week should be a little less hectic.
The main work will be cleaning up the house. It's a mess! I have laundry baskets full of clothes that need to be folded and put away, menus to plan for the rest of the week, and just general items to be put back in their proper places. Lots of the usual stuff. But I love it. That's my life right now, and I love it!

Some Photos

I haven't posted any photos in awhile, so I thought I'd share a few.

Ryan in his Chicago Cubs uniform.

Emily sulking after I told her she had to come in to wash her face. She got quite dirty!

Kathryn & Ryan in the church courtyard after Mass on Easter Sunday. They could barely tolerate smiling/posing as the sun was shining right in their eyes. Emily was running away and would not come to join in the picture!

Yea! Everyone is looking at the camera! Taken on Easter Sunday.

I caught a squirrel munching on an avocado in our backyard.

The latest project I'm working on. It's a crocheted afghan with Minnie Mouse cross stitched on it. I'm embarrased to say that I started this right before Kathryn (aged 10) was going to start Kindergarten!!!! She is now in the 4th grade!!!! I had gotten bogged down with the cross stitch. It was taking forever. So I stopped, picked it up again probably a couple of years later, then got bogged down again. Well, I picked it back up again and finally completed Minnie's face. It doesn't show it in the photo, but it is completed. I now need to do her dress, then her feet. Then I'm supposed to crochet squares to border all around the afghan. Still a lot of work to be done, but I vow to finish it! I told Kathryn maybe it will be a gift for her first daughter, LOL!

This is a close-up view of Minnie's face.

Well, that's it for now!

A Little Housekeeping

I'm trying to experiment with my blog appearance so there will probably be some changes going on. I'm not good with color so we'll see what I can come up with. I don't know. I'm going to be changing some fonts so that my sidebar info can be a little easier to read, maybe I'll change the template with some other Blogger design.

So pardon the dust!

Radio Waves

I love listening to the radio while I'm driving in the car. My usual fare is talk radio. But sometimes I like listening to music. And when the kids are in the car, they find the talk radio shows quite boring so I end up switching to the music, our favorite genre being rock/alternative or for one person in particular, the quite grating, Radio Dis*ney.



I'm very selective about what is playing while the kids are around. For sure, no swear words (those usually get bleeped out anyway, but sometimes they sneak in), and no songs about sleeping around, drug use, or dark/suicidal thoughts. I think that eliminates most songs that are out nowadays, right?



What I have found is that while listening to the radio, I now need to be aware of what kind of talk goes on in between songs. For a long time, I haven't listened to morning talk on the music stations because they have a lot of silly talk. Talking about parties they went to, how drunk they got, the latest on Britney Spears, etc. etc. Talk that doesn't make me think, other than thinking, how shallow these peoples' lives are (IMHO). Now I hear DJ's frequently tossing around off-color words. Words like (you can guess what I'm alluding to) donkey, female dog, and of course the favorite, taking the Lord's name in vain.



I think our society has gotten so used to this kind of talk that we don't think twice about it. I don't remember radio being that way, but maybe I'm just now noticing it. I thought the FCC regulated that kind of stuff.



I know that my kids will hear all this kind of talk eventually, but I'm trying to shelter their ears as much as I can so it doesn't become part of their everyday language, it doesn't become, "But, everyone talks like that!" I am reminded of the children's song, Oh, Be Careful Little Ears. I think that's what it's called.

Oh, be careful little ears, what you hear

Oh, be careful little ears, what you hear

For the Father up above,

is looking down in love,

So be careful little ears

what you hear.

One good thing about driving my big monster SUV rental (yes, I'm still driving it, no incidents, yea!) is that it has Sirius satellite radio. So I've been able to listen to EWTN radio, much to my children's chagrin. I love being able to listen to Catholic talk while I drive! We don't have Catholic radio here so this has been a blessing!



Here are some things that I've done to make our listening more safe:



Bring CD's from our own collection. We download songs that we really like and burn them onto the CD so that we can hear current songs (lyrics have been checked out) without having to listen to any DJ talk.



Listen to Christian music stations.



Listen to classical music, although the kids don't care for this one too much. I put a classical station on when there is too much bickering going on. That causes them to settle down.



Then of course, the most obvious choice when I've had it with noise, TURN THE RADIO OFF! PERIOD! That one can be nice, too. It clears your head.

No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29

You Are Not Going To Believe What Happened!!!

I don't believe it either. I went to pick up my rental car today. The car was waiting for me and after signing the paperwork, I went out to the back of the little rental car place to take a look at it and verify with the nice gentleman worker that there were no nicks or dings, whatever. Everything was A-OK, so after initialing in the proper places, I took the keys and prepared to take off.

Well, to get out the back lot, I had to maneuver this big minivan through a narrow, narrow driveway. Did I mention it was narrow? Yep, you can guess what happened. I had to turn into this driveway at a funny angle because the huge car was positioned in a way that was difficult to pull out. There were other big cars in the lot (very tiny lot by the way). And of course it being a totally new car, I wasn't comfortable in it. So, being stupid, instead of getting one of the nice employees to pull it out for me, I tried to do it myself. I backed in, backed out, backed in, backed out, just like in parallel parking. I couldn't get it, and just as I was going to back out for the last time, I got too close to the corner of the building and busted the side mirror on the passenger side. It's probably hard to visualize, but the lot was so tiny for having such big cars in there! I couldn't believe it. I wanted to cry! That's the third time I damaged a car in less than two weeks! Read here for my other incidents.


To make a long story shorter, I'll probably have to pay some out of pocket expense. They told me that the damage wasn't major and probably wouldn't be worth the trouble of filing a claim with my insurance company. We shall see. I really don't want to have to tell my insurance company that I'm such a klutz and they end up raising my rates! So now I'm driving a monster SUV that I sort of need a step stool to get in.

I'm really nervous about driving now. What will happen next??? Thankfully, the kids are on Easter break so I don't have to be taking them to school everyday! But I'm sure I will have some errands to run (like shopping for Easter outfits). Well, I guess it's like when you fall off a horse, they say you should get back on so you don't give fear a chance to take over.

I know most of you don't know what I look like , but if you see someone nervously driving a silver Chrys*ler Aspen, turn the other way!

Preparations

I still have lots to do before Easter.

Today I am getting a rental car so that I can be driving something while my car is in the shop. Tomorrow I take my car into the body shop so they can fix my ugly gash. I will try to take a picture of said gash so you can compare when the car comes back all nice and spiffy. That reminds me, I need to charge up the batteries so I can take the picture :)

I need to check through closets to make sure we all have something nice to wear on Easter Sunday. I have a feeling I'll be doing some shopping on Saturday. Little Emily is getting to be bigger Emily. She is growing like a weed. She is only three years old, soon to be four, but she is more comfortable wearing size 6 clothes!.

Hopefully we will (or a combination of us) be able to attend Mass on Holy Thursday and the Good Friday service. I hope so because they are so meaningful to me.

Oh yeah, I forgot that I bought a dye kit, so we will be dying some Easter eggs, too! I need to get out our old plastic eggs and fill those up so we can have a hunt on Sunday morning. I already have Easter baskets and grass so I just need to add some candy to them.

On Easter Sunday, we will be going to my mother's house for a family get together. It will be a little nontraditional as we will be having a barbecue! I think the weather's supposed to be in the mid to upper 70's so it should be perfect. I'm not sure what I'm going to bring yet. I need to look through my cookbook.

Through this busyness, I must not forget to ponder and pray about this most holy of seasons. Remembering the great love that our Savior has for us and the price he paid for our redemption.

Meditations

SUBJECTS FOR DAILY MEDITATION

Remember, O Christian soul, that thou hast this day, and every day of thy life:

God to glorify

Jesus to imitate

The Angels and Saints to invoke

A soul to save

A body to mortify

Sins to expiate

Virtues to acquire

Hell to avoid

Heaven to gain

Eternity to prepare for

Time to profit by

Neighbors to edify

The world to despise

Devils to combat

Passions to subdue

Death perhaps to suffer

Judgment to undergo

Source: Latin-English Booklet Missal for Praying the Traditional Mass

Car Troubles

Gosh, this just hasn't been my week for driving the car. It started out on Monday when I dropped Ryan off with Steve at work so that they could go together to baseball practice. I misjudged the huge concrete curb while turning to get out of that section of the parking lot. It's not a normal curb but it comes up about a foot from the ground. So, I'm turning and I hear a very loud grinding noise. I figure I must have scraped the tire and rim so I pull over to survey the damage and I don't see a thing. The tire looks fine and the hubcap has no nicks. I'm puzzled because the noise was so loud! So I figure that it must have scraped the area kind of around the tire. It seems a little bent but nothing major. I feel lucky I came out of that without major damage or a flat tire - so I think to myself. Well, I then stop at Staples to get some needed stuff. As I'm opening the sliding door (I have a minivan) to get Emily out, I notice that right under the doors, almost going underneath the car, is a huge scrape! It's about a foot long, all white with paint scraped off, paint about to peel off, just a yucky looking mess! Tomorrow I need to call the insurance company to find out what to do about that. I know I'll need to take it to get fixed, rent a car, and all that fun expensive stuff. I could kick myself for not being more attentive and misjudging that curb. I go through that parking lot all the time and I know it's tricky, but I've always managed.

Now for my next incident. Yesterday, I'm taking Kathryn to soccer practice. We arrive at the school where the practice is held. As I'm making the turn to pull into the parking lot, I have to make kind of a sharp turn. So, as I'm making this turn the car goes bump, bump. I've misjudged again, but the bumps are so clunky that I know I didn't just glaze the curb but probably actually jumped the curb! At this point I can't believe my stupidity and am beginning to feel that I'm a sorry driver! We arrive in the parking stall so I go around to take a look at the tire to see if there are any cuts, tears, etc. I look at the tire and can hear the air coming out and the tire slowly becoming flat!!! ARGH!!!! Steve can't help because he's with Ryan at his baseball game. I call my insurance company and they send a tower to come and change my tire. After soccer practice, we head to buy two new tires. Thankfully, they are able to put the new tires on right then so I won't have to do it today.

Hopefully, I won't have any more of these things happening for a long while! Now I wait to see what the insurance company says!

Weekend

Ryan and Kathryn both had games this weekend. Kathryn's team won 5-1. Yea! She's one of the older players on her team and enjoys her "leadership." For once she's not the littlest one wet behind the ears. At Ryan's level of play, they don't keep score so his team doesn't have wins or losses. He just has fun out there - as long as he's not playing at the pitcher's position. He doesn't like that at all.

We made a trip to the library this weekend. Lots of picture books for Emily and lots of readers for Ryan. One book that we've enjoyed so far is Bark, George by Jules Feiffer. The story is cute and the illustrations are hilarious. I'll have to check out some more by this author. I guess he's a famous cartoonist, but I'd never heard of him.

Worked some more with Kathryn on schoolwork. I mostly am trying to focus her and keep her from getting distracted. I plan on reading more with her to try to develop better comprehension.

Today, I went out to lunch with my good friends. We celebrate each other's birthdays by going out to lunch then a movie. This time, we skipped the movie and just window shopped. We don't need to have big celebrations. We just like to get together and have girlfriend time. All of us are so busy raising kids and whatnot that we don't get to see each other too often, but we talk on the phone more.

Tomorrow morning will interesting to see how easy or difficult it will be for the kids to wake up with this Daylight Savings Time. I tried to get them to bed earlier, but no one was really sleepy. I'm sure they'll feel sleepy when it's time to get up. I hope I can get up :)! I do like the sunlight being out a little longer. I can feel spring in the air. It was probably about 80 degrees today!

It was a nice weekend!

Favorite Parable Meme

Tracy at Tracy's Simple Life has tagged me for this meme:

1. You name your five favorite parables.
2. You tag one blogger per parable.
3. It would be nice if you linked back to this post.


Here are my favorite parables:

1. The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
2. The Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-10)
3. The Ten Virgins (Matt 25:1-13)
4. The Faithful and Unfaithful Servants (Matt24:45-51)
5. The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)


Consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play!

Quick Note

Just popping in for a quick note. I've been extra busy lately and computer time is quite limited.
Kathryn has been working on her California Mission report for school and the computer is being used for lots of research and typing. Her grades have also been slipping so I'm trying to get her back into focus for studying well - I'm having to teach her study skills, some organization, planning ahead, etc, etc. It's been a little tiring so at the end of the day, I just want to flop into bed and relax.

I hope to pop back in soon with more to say!

Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

Ok. I know it's Lent and all, but it's my birthday, and it only comes every four years! This is one of my all-time favorite 80's songs. Just indulge me for a few minutes. The video's not too clear, but the music's what I really want to hear.

The week has flown by and now I'm getting ready for a busy weekend.

First, a bloggy item, Jane recently tagged me for the middle name meme. I did that one before, and you can find it here.

Our neighborhood puts on garage sale weekends four times a year and this weekend is one of those weekends. It's in the city code or something that we are not allowed to hold garage sales unless it's during those certain weekends in the year. It ends up working out really well because you can plan ahead and then drive all around checking out the sales. The kids are searching around their rooms to find things to sell, dreaming of the riches they'll make, HA! I'm going to put out a few things to see what luck I have. Even my mom is here to do some selling! We'll see!

Ryan has his first baseball game tomorrow. This year, his team is the Chicago Cubs. His uniform is cute with the pinstripes and blue and red cap. This is his last year with the Shetland division, then he moves up to the Bronco division (I think that's the one). Kathryn starts her soccer season next Saturday.

Ryan and Emily both need haircuts. They've been postponed because of sicknesses, but now they can't wait any longer. Appointments need to be made NOW!!

Today is my 44th birthday. Steve and I will be going out dinner. Not sure where yet. My mom will watch the kids. We haven't gone out on a date/dinner in ages, so this is a nice treat.

Everyone have a blessed weekend!

Sweetness from My Boy

I can get weary hearing things like this:

"Why can't you buy us a playstation (Gameboy, such and such DVD, or any substitution of your choice) . Everyone else has one!"

"I don't like this chicken!"

"Can I have some cookies?" Requested at 7:00 AM.

"You're so mean!"


Then I hear from my sick Ryan, droopy eyed and feverish, looking me right in the eye:

"Thank you for doing your best to make me feel better." Then he kissed me on the cheek.

I wouldn't trade being my children's mom for anything in the world!

Zoo Day

No, I'm not talking about the zoo at my house, but the day (Sunday) that we went to the LA Zoo.

Ryan is on an animal kick and is into reading about animals, watching Animal Planet, and playing with animal toys. So we decided to make a day out of going to the zoo.

This is Emily, Kathryn, and Ryan standing in front of the pelican exhibit.

And here are the pelicans!

The kids behaved well for the most part. We enjoyed seeing the koalas, giraffes and gorillas. Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures, but these are some that came out OK.

There was also a spider exhibit going on but I didnt' want to see that. YUCK! But I was able to get a shot of Ryan with one of those photo boards.

In other news, we've got the sickies again. Ryan has developed a cold that's making him feel miserable. He's missed two days of school because he has a low grade fever. He was complaining that he thinks he may be getting an ear infection because his ear hurt a little. That was enough for me to make an appointment with the doctor. He's had plenty of ear infections in his lifetime and I didn't want to wait for it to get bad enough where he wakes up in the middle of the night with ear pain. No fun! So we see the nurse practitioner who examines him and says that his lungs are clear and his ears are clear. She says he just has a cold and it could last one to two weeks. I was so happy to hear that his lungs and ears were clear. Hopefully he's in his worst days and he should be on the way back up. Let's just hope this doesn't spread.

We're supposed to have four more days of rain. I don't mind the rain. I just don't like having to go out in it. I think it's rained more this winter than last, but I don't think it's enough to stop our drought. Our rainfall levels are way off. At least it's been enough to keep the grass green.

Now I'm off to look for some lunch. I haven't been good at getting my menus together so I think I'll be heating up some leftovers!

I hope there's not too many typos. I need spellchecker back!!!

Blogging Slump

I've been in a blogging slump. Not much inspirational thoughts going through my head, nothing exciting to share. Just my ordinary life, so I think I'll write about that.

I've been doing some reading from Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. So far, it's been inspirational for me and I'm only in the first couple of chapters! These kinds of books I like to read a little slow so that I can absorb what it's saying to me. I wish I could leave a quote right now, but I can't seem to find the book right now. Gosh, I just have so many books laying around that it must be buried among a book pile! I'm sure I'll find it.

I don't know if I mentioned that I finished knitting a hat for Ryan. I also finished a pair of mittens for Kathryn. Next up are some scarves and some dishcloths.

Yesterday, I took Emily to the park to play and feed the ducks. She just loves the ducks. She wishes we could have a pet duck. I told her that would be cute, but I don't think they make good pets.

I also took Emily to storytime at the library. She/We made a cute Valentine's card. She was quite proud of herself. We enjoy our little outings to the library. Maybe she'll be my bookreader out of all my kids?!

I'm looking forward to this three day weekend. We will be busy. Ryan will be attending a birthday party for one of his school friends. We will also be going to the zoo.

This week has been quite ordinary, but it's been a blessing, too! The ordinariness of life is still an oportunity to live out my vocation, to guide my kids, to practice virtue. It can strengthen me when the not so ordinary times come. Those times when the kids are sick or bickering, the car breaks down, the money is not there for some needed expense, etc. Thank you, Lord for the ordinary times.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Tracy at Tracy's Simple Life for this middle name meme.

The rules are:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each leter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

My parents did not give me a middle name so instead of doing my maiden name, I'm going to do the middle name that every Lisa I know has - Marie! Or so it seems!

M - married to my sweetie for 13 years.
A - amiable. I think I'm friendly to most people.
R- reader. I love to read
I - inquisitive. I'm curious about many things and usually like to find out more about something.
E - enthusiastic. I'm enthusiastic about my Catholic faith!

I'm going to now break the rules and just tag whoever wants to do this!

Making the World a Better Place

Sweet Suzy at Sailing by Starlight (her site is temporarily off at this time) passed this award on to me. It touches me to think that something I might say can enlighten, encourage, or help someone else. I thank God that He can use me in even a tiny way.

The rules are that I need to link to Ukok's Place and award this to five others.

Tracy

Therese

Michelle

Lori (an invitation only blog)

Jane

All of you make the world a better place!

Lent

On Ash Wednesday, I went to the Liturgy of the Word service at my kid's school. That service was for the K-2 kids. It entailed having the readings for the day, a little homily by the priest, and then the distribution of ashes. Steve took half the day off of work, so we took Emily and went to that service. Ryan was there with his class so we got to take a quick peek at him.

Kathryn and her class went earlier in the day to the Mass. I couldn't make it to that.



Tonight I went to the Stations of the Cross. I took Ryan with me. I'm not sure if the kids will be doing that at school, so I want to expose them to some of the devotional practices of Lent. When I was younger, single, and living at home, I was able to participate in many devotions at church during Lent. I remember them being very meaningful to me and they helped me tremendously in my spiritual life. So this year I want to try and do a little more. I plan on doing the Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent. I also want to go to Adoration once a week.



I have a handful of books I would like to read during this time. I don't plan on getting through all of them and I'll just pick the one that I'm led to at that time. Here's my list:

The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur
The Lamb's Supper - Scott Hahn
Exposition of the Seven Penitential Psalms - St. John Fisher
Encyclical Letter God is Love - Pope Benedict XVI
The Art of Praying - Romano Guardini
Introduction to the Devout Live - St. Francis de Sales

I'm limiting my computer time during this Lenten season, so I may not be visiting or commenting as often but I'll get around to read what all of you are doing!

Monday

Today was not a productive day. And it just goes to show that when I mess up and am not disciplined to do what I'm supposed to do, things kind of stay a mess. It seems I go in spurts. Last week, I was very productive in my work. I was focused and things got done. Some areas of the house actually looked presentable. So with that, it usually follows that with all that work, I tend to slack off a little afterwards.

Today was one of those days. I started out fine. Did some of my morning routine, then realized I really needed to get some necessary items from Target. Did that, but then I thought I would rest a little before picking up Kathryn & Ryan from school. I kind of got the knitting bug so I did a little of that. I saw how much progress I was making on Ryan's hat, that I continued with that. Needless to say, I never got back in the work groove. So I'm a little frazzled now because I'm playing catch up with kitchen clean-up, laundry sorting and general getting stuff ready for tomorrow. But at least I have an almost completed knitted hat to show for it! And I have to say that I did enjoy that! :)

Tomorrow we're going to have breakfast at school. They are having a Fat Tuesday Pancake Breakfast and we are looking forward to it. We have to leave even earlier than usual to make it, at least by 7:00 AM!

Lately, I've been having such a precious time with little Emily. She's been my little helper when I unload the dishwasher. Her favorite task is cleaning the bathroom, believe it or not. I don't give her any yucky stuff to do, just things like straighten things out on the counter. She does like to swish the toilet with the brush, but I make sure that I've done the main cleaning. And of course, we both thoroughly wash our hands! She loves to come up to me and say, "Hug and kiss!" Then she'll reach for me, give me a kiss, then rub her little face against my cheek. That's her hug! I just love those! I thank God that I've been able to be at home to experience all this. These are such precious times that will be over before I realize it. I want to truly savor these moments.
Thank you, Lord!

David Crowder Band's

Praise the Lord, O my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.