Tuesday

Over the weekend, we spent lots of time at the soccer and baseball fields. Glad to say that all three of the kids won their games. Ryan came out of his batting slump and finally made contact with the ball each time he came up. As fun as the games are, I can't wait for the seasons to end. I need a little break from all the practices and hustling here and there. I will so enjoy getting to sit back a little and do some reading or crocheting/knitting. But I think it'll be just in time for the holidays.



I've been spending lots of time going through the kids closets. There are lots of clothes to go through. I've been making a list of clothing items that the kids need due to growth spurts. I've been bagging items to go to the thrift store. Old, broken toys are getting tossed and those that aren't used very often are going to the garage.

One of the things on my To-Do list is to go through my email folder and delete, delete, delete. I have so many newsletters from different groups that I fully intend to read but never get around to because of time limitations. For many of them, I think I'm just going to go in and unsubscribe. I also have a lot of those that come from Netflix that say, "We have received (insert name of DVD)". I tend to keep those, just in case they come back later and say, "We never received such and such DVD"! Well, of course, that hasn't happened, so I'm going to just delete all those. Then I have all the newsletters from Borders bookstore. I keep those because I want to read about all the latest books coming out. But honestly, my To Be Read list is long enough as it is. So, those will be deleted. I hope to have a clutter free inbox soon!

Ryan lost another tooth. His two front teeth were loose but were very stubborn about coming out. Luckily, a school friend of his was playing tag, and accidentally hit Ryan in the mouth. But only one tooth got knocked out. The other one is still hanging on. I keep reminding him to wiggle that tooth. I hope it's not there much longer. I can't seem to get myself to be the one to pull it out.

I made a menu plan for this week but I've already had to alter it. We will be going out to eat with Steve's visiting sister and brother-in-law tomorrow night so that will change the plan a little. I hope to post my interesting (hee hee) menu plan later.

CATHOLIC VOTE 2008

I will be joining in an Election Novena. Read about it HERE.

Photos

I thought I'd share some random photos that were taken within the past couple of months.

Emily enjoying her orange at her soccer game.

When we went on our weekend getaway last month, Kathryn got a makeover at a popular tween store. She felt so grown-up and glamorous.

This was on the Monorail at Dis*neyland.

Ryan celebrated a birthday last month and this shot shows his little cake with some candles lit. He is not standing with the cake because he gets a little scared with lit candles. I don't know why. It's not like something caught on fire one year after lighting a birthday cake or we burned ourselves lighting the candles. Maybe he thinks that by blowing, the fire will catch something on fire. When we ask him, he just says he doesn't like lighting candles. Oh well, I'm sure he'll get over it sometime. I don't remember if he blew the candles out after a lot of cajoling or if we let Kathryn and Emily blow them out.

I will leave with this wonderful shot of Steve. He loves reggae music, so I thought this would be an appropriate shot!

Has It Been That Long?

I guess so. I've just been busy living life that I haven't had a chance to update.
Let me think about what's been going on.

Emily got hit with the stomach flu. That's always fun. Of course I didn't have any warning. She just woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. Thank the Lord that the rest of us didn't catch it.

I had to have a crown put on my tooth. I have a temporary right now so I return to the dentist on Monday for the permanent one. I was having quite a bit of pain being that my nerve is near the surface of the tooth. The pain would even travel to my temple. Sometimes food would accidentally move to that side of my mouth and OUCH! Lots of pain. But this week, the pain has pretty much disappeared. I'm glad about that.

Been doing a lot of running around taking my retainer ( I wear it every night) to the dental lab that's making the crown. They need it to make sure that it will fit when I get the crown. They needed it a couple of times. They've tried to just keep it for a day or two at a time so I wouldn't be without it for long.

Tomorrow I need to get a pumpkin for Emily's Daddy and Me date at her preschool. She's so looking forward to this. I guess she and Steve will be carving a pumpkin and putting some decorations on it.

I also need to spend the day folding laundry. That's one chore that is never ending. I always seem to have laundry baskets full of clean clothes waiting to get put away. I also need to sweep the patio and our porches. We've had the Santa Ana winds for the past couple of days and the porches are full of leaves and twigs and dirt and whatever else the wind has blown our way.

Now I'm going to bed and just chill!

Have a good day, everyone!

Award

I was so graciously given this nice award by Suzy at Sailing By Starlight and Tracy at A Catholic Mom in Minnesota. I'm so sorry it took me this long to acknowledge it here on my blog, ladies.

I need to answer the following questions with one word answers, then pass this award on to seven others.


1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Where is your significant other? bedroom
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? comforting
5. Your father? deceased
6. Your favorite thing? homemaking
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your dream/goal? security
9. The room your in? bedroom
10. Your hobby? reading
11. Your fear? cancer
12. Where do you want to be in six years? home
13. Where were you last night? practice
14. What you're not? tall
15. One of you're wish list items? counters
16. Where you grew up? California
17. The last thing you did? dishes
18. What are you wearing? PJ's
19. Your TV? on
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? loud
22. Your mood? distracted
23. Missing someone? yes
24. Your car? dirty
25. Something your not wearing? watch
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? busy
28. Love someone? definitely
29. Your favorite color? lavender
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? Thursday

I love all the blogs on my blogroll and so many others that I'm just discovering, but I will start with these. I know many of you already received this, but I'm sending it on anyway!


Julieann

Mrs.L

Therese

Laura

GrandmaK

Jane

Kimberly

The REAL Gumby Intro

I've been watching some Gumby episodes that I used to always watch when I was a kid. They're kind of silly now, but I loved them back then.

Homemaking Meme

I saw this on Tracy's blog, A Catholic Mom in Minnesota, a while ago and I wanted to do it.



Aprons-Y/N? No. I have some but I don't wear them. They're not very stylish and I just don't like to wear them. I'm also not in the habit. I would like to, though. If I ever get the sewing bug back, I could make some that I'd like to wear.



Baking - Favorite thing to bake: Chocolate cake



Clothesline - Y/N? No.



Donuts - Have you ever made them? I love donuts, but I've never made them.



Everyday - One homemaking thing you do everyday: Wash dishes.



Freezer - Do you use a deep freeze? No.



Garbage Disposal - Y/N? Yes. Use it all the time.



Handbook - What's your favorite homemaking resource? Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook and Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson. Although I have and use those books, I still frequently call my mom for great advice and tips.



Ironing - Love it or hate it? Hate it.



Junk Drawer - Y/N? Yes. Located in the laundry room.



Kitchen - color and decorating scheme: all white, quite plain, needs new paint job



Love - what is your favorite part of homemaking? knowing I'm serving my family, making a nice home for them



Mop - Y/N? Yes. Once a week. Sometimes more when the kitchen floor looks extra dirty.



Nylons - machine or hand wash? I hardly wear them, but when I do, I machine wash them in the delicate cycle inside a little laundry bag.



Oven - Do you use the window or open the oven to check? Early in the baking time, I use the window. When the food is close to being done, I open the door.



Pizza - what do you put on yours? ground beef and cheese, sometimes olives



Quiet - what do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment? Mostly read (books or blogs) or watch one of my Netflix rentals.



Recipe card box - Y/N? No. My recipes are kept in a 3 ring binder



Style of house - I don't know the style. Just a regular house, one story, 3 bedrooms, formal dining room.



Tablecloths and Napkins? Don't use a tablecloth. We use paper napkins.



Under the kitchen sink - organized or toxic wasteland? Pretty well organized.



Vacuum - how many times per week? Whole house once a week. Some areas are vacuumed more often as needed.



Wash - how many loads of laundry do you do per week? I do 2 loads a day.



X's - Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off? Definitely.



Yard - Who does what? I do it all, except we do have a gardener who mows the lawn and trims the bushes.



ZZZ - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed? Last minute tidying up in rooms, laying out clothes for the next day.

Friday

Today I was able to accomplish quite a bit. Emily was in school, so I got to work and had to do it quick. I did my laundry and even got the clothes put away. Usually, I do the laundry and the clean clothes stay in a basket for a LONG time! We end up pulling the clothes out of the basket, doing a quick ironing job and putting them on. Doesn't make for stress-free living, but what can I say, we are definitely not always a smooth running machine here. So, I was quite pleased that the clothes were put away. Little things like that give me satisfaction.

I thought I was going to have a major chore today. Yesterday, Emily had soccer practice, but I could only find one soccer shoe. I could not find the other one, so she just had to wear her regular tennis shoes. For practice that is OK but not for the real game, which is tomorrow. So I had to tackle the BIG job of cleaning out her closet and soon. There is so much junk in there, I was ready with the trash bags because I knew I would be finding lots of things to just toss. I emptied out the shoe rack (more like a crate), put aside some shoes that don't fit her anymore, but no missing soccer shoe. I pulled out all her stuffed animals, and lo and behold, there is her missing shoe! It was buried under the pile of stuffed animals. I was so glad I didn't have to dig further into the closet. I cleaned out half of her closet and decided to do the rest next week. Lots of stuff will get tossed or stored in the garage. There is just too much in that closet.

I finally got my recent pictures uploaded onto the computer. I'll have to post some pictures on another post. I have a few from last weekend's marathon of games. It was a little hectic, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Ryan and I did manage to see Kathryn's game and he wasn't too tired. I still don't like the three games in one day, but I suppose we'd manage.

Emily's team would have won if score was kept. There is no official score keeping. They just go out there to have some fun. Emily scored 4 goals, and all for her team, not for the other team like she did the week before, LOL! Kathryn's team won, I don't remember the score, but it was a shutout.....I think. Ryan's team lost.

This weekend is another round of games, two on Saturday and one on Sunday.

My two DVD rentals for this weekend are: Love is a Choice (the life of St. Gianna Beretta Molla) and Gumby Essentials (sure to bring back lots of memories).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Huh!

Your 80s Hunk Is

Bill Gates

Who's" Your 80s Hunk?

Oh my gosh! How can this be? Must have been the nerdy answers I gave. I thought I would get someone like Harrison Ford, or Tom Cruise. Or maybe even Rick Springfield or Scott Baio. But Bill Gates? I guess I'm not as cool as I thought I was! LOL! Then again, he has the last laugh. Revolutionizing the technological world and being the richest dude in America and all that!

H/T: Cmerie

Catching Up

Well, I'm taking a break right now. I got quite a bit done while Emily was in pre-school today. I was able to quickly do my morning routine (compared to other days) and make a trip to the grocery store.



I have to admit that I love the little bit of free time I get when she's at school. I've been real good so far and have not squandered my time. She goes to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for three hours. I think it's perfect for her and for me. She gets to have new play adventures and gets practice at being in a school structure with the rules and social setting. I get a little free time to slow down just for a bit and not have my brain split in so many directions.



So far, Emily just loves going to school. She gets so excited that she forgets to tell me bye when I drop her off at her class. After I sign her in, I take a quick peek in the classroom to tell her goodbye again and she's just so busy doing her thing. I'm glad she doesn't have any separation anxiety. I had a tough time with Kathryn & Ryan. Until a couple weeks into it, they would cry or just give me that quivering lip that would break my heart.

Kathryn scored her first ever goal in soccer last weekend. This is her fourth season playing, I think, so it's been a long wait for that first one. The grin on her face was priceless. I wish I would have had my camera, but of course, I didn't. I desperately need to upload pictures. Mini vacation shots, game shots, and first day of school shots are still waiting in the camera.

Tonight we're heading out to a spaghetti dinner at the older kids' school. It should be a fun event. Aside from a delicious dinner, there will be raffles and a movie . I hope I can stay awake. I've been waking up around 5:45 every morning to start the day so, of course, I get sleepy earlier.

Tomorrow will be a tiring day. We have three games!! Emily has a soccer game at 12:00. Kathryn's game is at 3:00 and Ryan has one at 6:30. I'm thinking of keeping Ryan home from Kathryn's game so he can rest before his. I think it will be a little too much. Oh yeah, I have to provide snacks for two of the games. I'm getting tired thinking of all this. Maybe, if I remember, I'll take some pictures throughout the day and make a post. I don't know. I tell ya, I'm tired thinking about tomorrow.

Well, I don't have time to be tired right now. I'm off to pick up Kathryn & Ryan from school.

Blessings to everyone!

Busy!

Just a quick note to say sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I've been super busy. Sports practices here and there. Sports pictures to be taken. Games to go to. Snacks to get for said games. Order forms for fundraisers to fill out. Well-visits/immunizations to take care of.
And Emily begins pre-school on Monday (sniff-sniff)! I'm going full throttle!

Blessings to all of you and I'll catch up with all of you when I catch my breath!

Award

I'm sorry that I haven't acknowledged this sooner, but thanks to Tracy, A Catholic Mom in Minnesota, I've been awarded this:

I so appreciate all the comments that I receive. I love to hear what your thoughts are. I still find it hard to believe that anyone would care to read what I have to say. But I hope that someone can relate to something I share or chuckle at something. So thanks to all of you who stop by and leave your thoughts!

With that, I will pass this on to :

Jane

SuzyQ

GrandmaK

Laura

If you've already received this, consider yourselves doubly blessed!

The Quirky Meme

It's taken me some time, but I'm finally getting to this one. Thanks for the tag, Suzy & GrandmaK!

I'm supposed to mention 6 quirks of mine. So here goes. After this, I guess you'll think me weird!

1. I don't like when people place their bare feet up on the dashboard of the car when riding in the passenger seat. I don't like to see dry, cracked, yucky toenails out in full view for the world to see. Now if you have nicely manicured feet that's different. Those I don't mind so much! Needless to say, I practice what I preach. My not so nice feet don't see the light of day when I'm the passenger! LOL! By the way, is this a California thing or do you all like to put your feet up when riding in the passenger seat?

2. I'm a definite carb person. I have to restrain myself from eating all the bread, biscuits, tortilla strips, etc. that are placed at the table before the main meal. I try not to be greedy but sometimes it's difficult. When eating a slice of pie, I mostly eat the crust and if I could, would leave most of the fillings out. I've been known to just bake a crust with no intention of putting anything in it!

3. This probably should be placed in number 2, but I need more quirks to fill out the 6. I sometimes eat more of the dough in the chocolate chip cookie than the actual chocolate chips. Most people love all the chocolate in the cookies. Not me! I'd just as soon have a token 3 or 4 chips in the whole cookie. Isn't that weird? My poor kids get deprived when I make chocolate chips cookies!

4. I love to touch the fabric when going to the craft stores. Ditto for yarn in yarn shops. If it's a nice, fine, baby yarn, I'll even sneak a rub against my cheek!

5. I don't look at myself in the mirror at night. This mostly pertains to when I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I don't turn on the light, just using the little glow from the nightlight. I remember too many childhood horror stories, read too many horror books, seen too many horror movies, all that stuff. I'm always afraid of what I'll see in the mirror! YIKES!

6. I like to see the credits after all the movies I watch. Most of the time, Steve and I are the only ones left in the movie theatre after a movie ends. We have a running joke. Who will be the first one to see who the Key Grip is and who The Best Boy is.


So there you have it. It's freeing to confess some of my weirdness/quirkiness! I'm sure I have more, but I guess since it's me, I don't think of it as weird.

Have a nice day everyone!

Back From Our Little Getaway!

We had a fun time on our little getaway and are sorry that it was so short, but it's nice to get away, even for just a little while.

We were able to get to Disneyland this year as it wasn't as hot as last year. It wasn't super crowded so we were able to take in a the rides without wasting time in long lines. The kids of course were so excited.

We swam in the hotel pool. It was a little cool to be swimming, but we had to take advantage of being there.

The rest of the time we just hung out and ate!

I haven't uploaded any pictures yet so I don't have any to share right now. That reminds me, I've been meaning to start organizing my pictures on the computer. Right now they are just organized into folders, but the pictures themselves are not tagged. I need to do that so that they are easy to find when I'm searching for a certain people, places, or whatever. Does anyone have any suggestions on good photo storage sites? I have a Photobucket account and also Flikr, but I've only put a few pictures in each and haven't really researched them to see what exactly I can do. What do you use?

So now I'm easing back into the routine of things. I did lots of laundry today. The loads are all washed but not many baskets have been folded and put away. That's not one of my favorite things to do. I must admit that after my morning routine was finished, I slacked off a bit. I got caught up watching some episodes of Heroes on DVD. I only intended to watch one episode but I got hooked. It's like reading a good book that you hate to put down! I think I ended up watching three episodes. Not good when your husband and children are starving!

Tomorrow is another day and I'll try to be better disciplined! :) Well, I'll have to be. I have to send these disks back to Netflix so I can get the next episodes!

Have a good week, everyone! I have a lot of catching up to do with all of you, so I hope to visit your wonderful blogs soon!

Friday!

Yeah! It's family weekend getaway time!

Kids have gone back to school!

Emily started soccer! Too cute!

I have memes to do!

Christmas planning to do!

Will report when I return!

Have a wonderful weekend!

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!