Pretty Happy Funny Real

The Sacramental Edition

{Pretty}

Pretty is a little girl, preparing to make her first confession.

An about-to-be-freshly-laundered soul is very pretty, don’t you think?

{Happy}

Look at all those about-to-be-freshly-laundered souls!

She was happy...and joyful...and excited...and nervous.

(Correction: According to Angela, she wasn’t nervous. My husband agreed, saying, “I don’t think she knows what that word means.”

{Funny}

Funny is our parish priest who, having read the Gospel and gone over the night’s agenda, joked, “I’m going into the confessional now. First I’ll turn off my microphone.”

And funny was all the happy chatter, so refreshingly different from the normal queue.

{Real}

Real are the graces, deep and lasting.

Real is my gratitude for the Church.

Visit Like Mother, Like Daughter to see all of today’s {PFHR} contributions!

And have a happy, sacramental day.

Weigh-In Wednesday

I. The Test

I have still not gotten my cycle, though I have since burned through all three tests in that Clearblue box. Weirdness! Perhaps I should change the name of this blog to Perimenopausal Mom.

Now wouldn’t that be fun?

Still my baby! Still my blessing.

II. The Scale

Here’s a link to the photo from this morning. I’m sorry for not being much of an inspiration this week! I know what to do to lose the weight…have just been too busy/too tired/too cold to care.

I do care. It’s just that being busy and being tired and being cold sound like really good excuses right now.

Winter Sports in Minnesota: Swimming & Gymnastics

III. The Life

Yes, we’re busy. We’re really busy. We may even be Too Busy.

Homeschooling, basketball, Boy Scouts, American Heritage Girls (I’m a leader), housework, husband time (still going well), me time (not going as well) and not one but two kids preparing for new sacraments this year. In fact, Angela makes her First Confession tonight!

Will you say a prayer for her? Thank you, my friend, in advance.

My sister’s in town caring for her new baby grandson!
Seeing her & meeting him yesterday? HUGE blessing.

We are also gearing up to go home to North Dakota for my parents’ 65th Wedding Anniversary, and for reasons I have yet to reveal, that too is taking up lots of free time.

Except time isn’t free—it’s a gift and I’m grateful.

A busy life is still a blessing.

“The pure, simple, and steadfast spirit is not distracted by many labors, for he does them all for the honor of God.”

The Imitation of Christ, Chap. 3

Happy Wednesday! Let me know how you’ve done.

The Big Reveal

Yes, I was very disappointed.

Is Big Brother watching me?

This is NiNi, otherwise known as my 2-year-old George.

Is he a big brother?

I don't know!

Maybe yes...and maybe no...and maybe I'm driving you crazy--yes?--with all this rampant speculation. I'm sorry! It's just that I've been busy--VERY busy--and haven't been able to get to the store for The Test.

Plus the plan was to get one from my friend Lynnie at church last night, where our sweet little 2nd graders had their First Confession interviews. Both Angela and her son did fine, just fine. (I know you were concerned for them.)

Alas, I wasn't able to make it.

Instead, I was visiting with my cousin Eileen, (aka Tuna), because I am doing some work on our family tree and she invited me over to share some stories. Eileen's father is my mother's brother, and Eileen's mother is my father's sister.

My Cousin Tuna with Felicity

Got that? It's a small town thing.

Anyway, I spent a delightful hour at her table listening and taking notes. So cool. For example, I found out why her nickname is Tuna. She was a very small girl growing up, just like my Felicity, and her dad used to say, "I'm going to stick you in my pocket and take you to town! You're my little Petunia!" Petunia got shortened to "Tuna" and there you go.

I just love this sort of thing, don't you? Or would you rather I just shut up? Would you rather I do other things than blog--things like driving to Target to buy The Test?



It will be six weeks tomorrow since my last cycle.

TMI? According to you, it's not enough!

Weigh-In Wednesday

How are you doing? Are you meeting your wellness goals this week?

I am not.

I am decidedly not not NOT.

(You can click over to see my scale if you want. Weight is up, motivation is down.)

And part of me, too, is wondering if I am doing any good by posting these photos. Certainly there's--What would you call it?--a curiosity factor, as in, "What a curiosity that woman is, posting photos of her scale..."

In any case, I don't want to make it all about the weight, (I've said this time and time again), and I certainly don't want you to feel bad if what I'm posting looks like a good weight to you. We are all so different! So perhaps you could let me know where you want me to go with this series, or even if you want me to continue at all (emphasis mine).

Would you be willing to do a link-up? Would that be motivating and/or interesting? I thought perhaps we could use the "Weigh-In Wednesday" idea as a platform for even more than our weight. We could "weigh in" on other things--share ideas, offer encouragement.

I would like that. I'll go first.

In posting photos of my bathroom floor, I noticed my tile grout looked fairly dingy. "Huh. Is that really the color that it should be?" As it turns out, it was not.

My Very Humbling Piet Mondrian

You'll see I've been a fairly inconsistent homemaker--am, shall we say, far more interested in other pursuits than cleaning.

And yet...and yet...I love a clean home and aspire to such. Like eating right and exercising, it's all about balance and blessings and peace.

A squirt of lemon juice and a paste of baking soda...

A couple of scrubs with an old toothbrush...

That was all it took and how good it looks!



Reaching my goal weight should be so easy.

Misbehavior…or Mad Science?

Well, it’s happened. My two older sons have gone back to school after a four-week break. The reason they had such a long vacation, by the way and because I know you are aching to know, is because the last week of break is “project week”.

Seven days devoted to industry. Not once did the boys stray from their assigned task—not once were they distracted by neighborhood friends or handheld gizmos. Not once, I tell you!

(80 times maybe, but not once.)

Jem made a beaver lodge…

And Joe wrote a paper:

What? It’s an action shot.

George, of course, being of sound mind and stubborn genes, was not to be outdone by his two older brothers. He did his research in the realm of food science, wondering, as it were, what would be the effect of an entire bottle of hot sauce upon a side dish of vegetables.

He’s pleased, I think, with the results. Such mass! Such density! Such color! Such smell!

Did his teacher try it? She did not.

She served it instead to the headmaster.


Ed. Note: Apropos of next to nothing, I have not taken a test yet.

Back on Track

The “Got Teens?” Edition


Last Friday I updated my Facebook status with: If I could bottle my teenager’s energy, it would be 100-proof.

My favorite comment came from Theresa, who remarked, “I’ll take a case.”

(Me too! But only if you add caffeine.)

Would you believe that he and Jem are only now going back to school? Not today, mind you, today is a holiday. Tomorrow, though, my boys go back…and that makes nearly four wonderfully crazy and loud weeks of vacation.

I liken the activities of our home to a beehive. Lots of humming, buzzing, activity and noise.

(Not so much honey production, however.)

(Which is too bad. I like honey.)

So yes, it may take me awhile to get back on track. Meanwhile, I wanted to share with you these photos that I took on New Year’s Eve (see? told you it may take awhile!) and which are a good example of my two bookend boys. George loves his big brother very much and has gotten very used to having him around. Indeed, sometimes (gasp!) he prefers him to me.

Got a teen? Get a baby.

The two go really great together.


(Ed. Note: Speaking of getting a baby...I’m going to publish this in a small font so that not everyone reads it. For those of you who do read it…may I just ask…is it normal to have one’s cycle go wonky as they approach the 50-year mark? Or are we about to get another baby?)

(What to Expect When You’re 45 and Expecting)

(Now that would be a really fun blog post.)