Overheard

Nadia: Kass, can you stop reading books all the time?

Kassia: (silence, nose in book)

Nadia: Kass, I said, can you stop reading books all the time?!  I want to play with you.

Down memory lane with James

This is a question for my mother, who will know the answer from memory (I only know it from photos).

Mom, does this remind you of anyone?

It's February

Can you tell it's February?

I can.  It's the month where homeschoolers (or maybe just me-ha!) start to go a little insane.  We've been inside, weathering the winter illnesses and staying away from chilling winds and blizzard conditions.  We've hunkered down and done our work for months now and the end is still months away.  It's when I start to look for any reason to get out and have a play date even if said play date leaves me exhausted (not used to going out anymore, apparently) and then we end up not getting our planned work done for the day.

Yesterday my husband had to work out of town.  And I knew it would be a late day for him, so I anticipated a long day for me.  And in the morning we had Nadia's Little Flowers group (which was, as usual, AWESOME - and I got to teach this time!), but after just that one activity and the thought of our fridge and pantry looking a little bare as we didn't get groceries as planned over the weekend, I went home from Little Flowers via the McDonald's drive thru (which is very rare for us).

And then we managed to quasi-school and quasi-work and quasi-housekeep and my husband called and I learned he was going to be even later than planned and it was suppertime and there was nothing new the last 5 times I checked the cupboards so I fed the kids graham crackers in milk (like cereal - I love it, actually, but I don't usually give it to them but eat it in front of them because I'm the mom and I get things that they don't) and divided a bag of microwave popcorn amongst them (save James).  To top it off, they got juice, slightly diluted as usual.  And they thought it was a treat!!!  Thank heavens they don't yet see me as too lazy to go to the grocery store.  Or to open a can of soup or feed them something more ____ (insert word here, like substantial or nutritious).

Today we had a playdate and when the littles were napping, I briefly napped on the couch.  And being that we still have the same grocery items here that we had yesterday (we do have plenty of food, I'm just tired of my fallback of noodles of one variety or another), we did open the cans of soup for dinner.

And, no, I'm not expecting, it's just February.  But March is lookin' pretty good.  I'm sure we can make a grocery store run before then and we'll probably have increased our stamina for springtime and schoolwork and play dates and all that.  Oh, and March is the first of the "months of birthdays," so that's something to look forward to, too.  Sort of.  That reminds me that I need to get some gifts!  OK, so maybe March can take it's time coming until I'm ready... 

What happens when you give up chocolate for Lent

When you give up chocolate for Lent (and ice cream), you're going to want some chocolate or ice cream.  When you are diligent in avoiding ice cream, you happen to drive by a frozen yogurt place and have to be strong and remind yourself it's in the same category. When you are diligent in avoiding chocolate, you give all your chocolate snacks to your kids (in reasonable rations, of course).  When you give all your chocolate to your kids, they begin to realize you have much more chocolate in the house than they ever realized.  And when you do your best to keep all chocolate packed away and hidden so that you are not too tempted, then your son James gets the cocoa out of the cupboard and spills it on the floor, leaving the delectable aroma of chocolate floating in the kitchen.  And you have to clean it up and dream about what you could make with it.

Oh, how I miss you my chocolate and ice cream.

Friday Challenge

My challenge today is to treat every interruption as if it were Christ himself needing my attention.  It's going to be difficult, that's for sure.  :-)  But I am hoping it will help me to be more attentive to my little one's needs, even if those needs are very, very little or not needs at all.

I've been trying to spend more time in prayer and it does not come easily for me - first in developing the discipline to set aside time for it, second in the discipline to not let other concerns enter into my mind during prayer, and third in being patient to wait for the fruits of these attempts.

Yesterday I tried praying the rosary along with a recording.  First, I got hung up when the reciter said "blessed are thou among women..." and it kept bugging me because I think that if you're going to use "thou" then you should use "art" instead of "are."  So instead of being focused on praying, I cringed each time I heard the words and tried to mentally speak louder with "blessed art thou."  So ridiculous.

And then the interruptions were no longer from me but from my children.  First it was screeching from one child not getting what they wanted.  Then it was screaming from another who minorly bumped herself.  Then it was the tattling from the self-proclaimed overseer of the time-out chair who had a report for me on the lack of silence from the child on time-out.  Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway - it was not helping me get into prayer or even a prayerful mood.

Eventually I turned off the stereo and said, "Lord, that's all I can do right now; I'll have to try again another time."  Because what good is it for me to try to set an example of prayer for my children that is overwhelmingly full of missteps, distraction and exasperation?  This is one reason why my prayer life leans toward being comatose.

But today is a new day full of it's own issues, and I'll tell you all five of the kids are louder than they should be and I can't seem to tame the tendency of the rising volume and I am praying that we can get my husband's office soundproofed for all our sakes.  And if I am going to be better at prayer and more attentive to my children, I had better get off the computer soon and pray a bit in earnest before the interruptions come.  St. Emmelia, pray for me!  (St. Emmelia homeschooled her 10 children, one of whom was St. Basil the Great)

You're My Friend

So, James' fever turned out to be nothing.  Maybe he had a tooth moving around, maybe it was a 12 hour bug.  Whatever it was, he woke up in the week hours of the morning wanting to make up for his slow morning yesterday and eat, eat, eat.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that guy.  No drippy nose, no diaper rash, no cough or ache or anything other than his determined belief that I must be visible to him at all times.  But I don't regret deciding to stay home yesterday at all.  It was the right call.  Besides, this evening at supper, Luke said he prayed for James to get better yesterday and that he is better and that "It's a miracle!"  And I believe that little prayer probably has a lot more oomph than most of mine.

So today we all got to go to Mass together and it was beautiful.  I don't know why it was so much more wonderful than normal, except that we had a lot of fellowship following Mass, the kids were great (James entertained the people behind me by grabbing and twisting my nose and working to rip off my veil), and Paul and I had been working to make this weekend all about making the most of our time enjoying our family.

One thing that struck me today was how much it meant to hear the words,"You're my friend."  It was kind of silly - I was touching the head of a sleeping 3 month old whose mother and I had organized a few play dates for our kids.  Midway through stroking that downy hair, I realized that this action sometimes bothers people and said, "I hope you don't mind me touching your baby; I just love babies."

And she said, "I don't mind.  Besides, you're my friend."

Maybe it's weird, but I can't even remember the last time I heard those words.  I know I have friends, and I love them dearly.  We tell each other things like, "You are such a good friend" and "I am so thankful for our friendship."  In fact, I was recently blessed by the.most.beautiful card from a friend a couple of weeks back and it is something I will treasure always (along with our friendship; it's really such a blessing to have even one of those kinds of friendships).  But there was something about this proclamation - it's purity and simplicity, the gift that it was...it touched me.


Anyway, that's just a little something that made a difference in my day.  And I hope that I took that little gift and shared it as I cuddled and goofed off with Luke, snuggled Sophia, played chess with Kassia and helped Nadia get her wool hat on just right so that it wasn't scratchy while she played outside.

It was a good, good day.

The Quarantine Season

Instead of winter, let's call this the quarantine season, okay?  Because that's pretty much what it is.

Today we were supposed to go to a wedding, one we were really looking forward to, but instead of enjoying the celebration of a Sacrament, the three youngest kids are at home with me.  Last night I felt like I was getting a cold and this morning James woke up with a fever.  So instead of being together as a family on a Saturday, we are separated for the 3rd or 4th week in a row (I lose track - the chess season is long and that's where Paul is most Saturdays in February and a few in January and March as well).  Sigh.

Last month, when we found out that my sister (who lives on the other side of the country), would be coming to visit my mom in WI (where the rest of the siblings live), we planned to all get together so that we could have a family photo taken.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Instead, my family got the flu two days before and the whole thing was shot.

We don't have the largest family size - there are many families with more than five children - but with each additional family member, your quarantine days are greatly increased.  We share a home, so we share most viruses.  I'm not into sanitizing the world (that's a whole other topic), but we do what we can to avoid spreading germs to each other and to others, which is why we are quarantined...again.

No one likes staying at home because there is an indication of illness, but we do it because we don't want anyone else to get sick or, even worse, end up in the hospital and have that traced back to the fact that we didn't stay home when we knew we had a bug.  So if someone misses an event that you've got planned because they are sick, then know that they are more disappointed than you probably realize.

In return, know that we appreciate it when you stay home, too.  Because if one of us gets sick, then the odds are good that we will all get sick.  Just to paint a picture here, let's factor a bug that shows up 3 days after exposure...if we don't all get it at the same time from the original family member who first gets the virus, then we are potentially sick as a family for a whopping 21 days.  Subtract the first 3 days before the initial symptoms start, and that still leaves the possibility of an 18 day quarantine.

Yeah, it's not likely that we would all get sick a different times, but it's possible.  And that possibility is not one I'd like to see come to fruition.

But I'm going to look on the bright side here...we'll never get this cold again, and we are still relatively healthy. There are those who will appreciate the fact that we didn't come to the wedding (like those we know who will be there with an infant), and we have no need to go out for things as Paul went to the grocery store last night (I LOVE that he goes grocery shopping...I can't stand it, so there's another thing I'm thankful for).

And now, off to make the most of the quarantine season.  It's not that much longer, right?  :-)

Edited to add:
I personally wouldn't miss a wedding due to a cold, but a fever is one of those things that I don't take kids out of the house for, especially with the flu going around.  Actually, when you have a large family, it is really, really, REALLY hard to stay quarantined for so long, so my policy with my friends when we have activities planned together and someone has a cold is this: if one of my children has a cold, I let the other mother know and ask if she'd like us to cancel or go ahead.  They do the same for me.  Often, we agree that the cold isn't as important as it is for us to get together and have some time - for the adults and for the kids.  So we still meet as planned.  Of course, this all depends on the age of the sick child (toddlers aren't great at keeping their germs to themselves), and how long the symptoms have been (if it's the first day, we aren't going out; if it's the 5th day of symptoms, odds are great the contagious window is closed), if the ill child is feeling normal and behaving normally and much more.  I'm never offended if someone wants to confirm that we are all healthy before getting together or if someone has to cancel because someone's child is sick.

And that quarantine length of 18 days?  It could be greater, depending on the virus and how long the symptoms last.  There is so much to consider with this stuff that you can't be exact or every really know.  You could be free from symptoms of a cold you just got over and be spreading germs from a cold you didn't even know you just got.  At any rate, the fact is that we have to be considerate of each other but also keep in mind that we can't stay indoors forever for fear of getting or giving a germ.  But today, we are keeping our germs home.  :-)

This Crazy, Blessed Week

This week has been fun, and crazy, and interesting...and blessed.

Monday started with food craziness.  I was so thankful to be able to give James a little PB&J for lunch - thankful because I knew he could easily chew the peanut pieces in the chunky peanut butter and also thankful because no one in our family is allergic to nuts.  That would be VERY difficult for me!  It was nice to be able to wander around while he ate without any fear of him having some kind of health hazard due to the lunch I gave to him.

However, I neglected to remember that boys have an affinity to putting things in their nostrils, and returned to clean him up only to find a peanut shoved up his nose.  Boys.  They sure are entertaining.  (In case you are wondering, the extraction was pretty easy, so it was more humorous than anything.)

Later it was time to prepare dinner.  We really enjoy mexican food and enchiladas was the plan for supper.  I was thankful that I had purchased all the items I needed the day before when I ran into the grocery store after Mass to pick up a few items.

But in the way things tend to go, I realized about twenty minutes before it was time to begin preparing the meal that I had forgotten one thing: enchilada sauce.  Yeah.  Kind of a key ingredient.  Thus began the dinner scramble.

I went to the computer and searched for an enchilada sauce recipe.  Finding one that didn't have too many negative reviews to knock out the good ones, and also looked to be flexible enough to work with what I had in the pantry, I printed it out and the girls and I pulled it together just in time.  We cooked the meat, and were ready to start adding the sauce and other ingredients (a few tweaks I had made to a recipe that was shared with me), I realized that one of my daughters had been reading the recipe and misplaced it.

We flew about the living room, school room, and kitchen and dining area in a tizzy.  After about five minutes of searching, I noticed that the daughter who misplaced the recipe was starting to cry so I pulled us all together and said, "No big deal, girls - I'll just find the original recipe on the computer and it doesn't matter if we miss something.  It'll be fine."

Reassured, they went on to monitoring the progress of the meat and I went to the computer - only to find the recipe on the desk, slightly covered by a notebook that I had been the last one to use.  Boy was my daughter relieved to learn that I helped her lose the recipe!  Crazy as it was, putting that meal together was a great bonding and learning/teaching experience for us.  We all came away with joy from being able to make a meal for the family together.

That was Monday.  We haven't had any crazy cooking/eating incidents since then, but just this evening I was playing with the kids, who really play hard and Luke's running into me resulted in me cradling a throbbing and slightly bloody nose.  Honestly, these are the best moments!  I really hope that the kids talk about that shared memory with joy when they are older.

The blessed part of the week has been in each day, of course, but especially Tuesday.  Our parish is working with Evangelical Catholic and I was invited to join a small group of young moms - for a weekly gathering mid-morning with our kids.  I REALLY hesitated.  Everytime I've tried something like this, it just never worked out.  Usually it was the kid factor - it's hard to have a bible study with my brood flying around.  And it's even harder to arrange regular child care for my five children, in the middle of the day (and one of them is addicted to mommy), so I wasn't very hopeful.  I said I'd think about it.

And then I got the email.  My friend, who had heard about this specific group, specifically for young moms with little ones, emailed me to tell me about the group, to encourage me to go and to offer to watch my kids!!!! For an hour and a half meeting, once a week, for all of Lent!  I thought, "This is it. This very well could be God making it work out that my motherhood will not keep me from a bible study and fellowship."

So I contacted the host of the group, explained that I homeschooled, so I had hoped to bring along all five children if possible...and she didn't at all think it would be an imposition for anyone.  I said I do have possible childcare but I would love to see how they do.  I told my friend, "I'm taking my kids with me for the first meeting, but I'm pretty sure I'll be taking you up on that generous offer from then on."

But I don't think I will be.  It was such a blessed time.  Some of the other moms feel like "natural" friends to me already.  Our children played together wonderfully.  And though I had the oldest two children there, there were other homeschooled children as well and we could all see that it was a blessing for all of the kids as well.

And today, we completed our schooling for the day, survived our return to swim lessons (I say "survived" because I had to bring James with me - Sophia was napping at home and Paul was there, and because I was relieved to see that the kids hadn't forgotten what they'd learned previously), made it to their catechism classes in a little snowstorm, visited Jesus (for about 3 minutes), and came home to have a rousing pillow fight/wrestling match/dance party with all the kids.

I hope the rest of my week is just like the week has been so far.

I Succumbed to an Infomercial (and other random stuff)

For the second time in my life, I've succumbed to the promises of an infomercial.  The first time it happened, I was probably 15.  It was the steamroller hair set - the one where the person uses it, gets fabulous naturally-tousled shiny curls, smashes some of it under a helmet and then goes skydiving. Naturally, it's just as beautiful as ever after she returns to land and removes the helmet.

To be fair, the product did work - and there are actually times when I wish I could try it again because I think I might do a better job of taming those curls (which actually were very glossy and shiny) - it was a lot easier than curling with an iron, lock by thick lock. But I got rid of it after some time.

This time was another hair product. I'm not sure why I went for it, to be honest, other than the fact that I've seen it on TV numerous times since there are only a few options of what to watch with your bleary eyes at five in the morning with a one year old who clings to you like a baby monkey.  So I think they got me in the frequency of the exposure and the fact that I've been feeling more "awake" (for lack of a better term) than ever since James was born.  Other than the once-a-night pacifier reinsertion that James cries for, he sleeps through and I mostly, do, too.  So with feeling more like myself, I've been wanting to take better care of myself and my appearance is part of that.

The stupid thing is that I have always had pretty nice hair.  It's thick, it's strong (except at the ends, but that's what happens when you don't get your hair cut more than 3 times a year), and I can tame it into pretty curls or sleek straight tresses.  It's not a shiny as I'd like it to be, and it requires extra conditioning, but so what?  Everyone has their own hair issues and mine are pretty minor.

But at any rate, I bought the product and waited with 90% excitement and 10% frustration in myself for falling for it.  I justify it by the fact that there is nothing wrong with wanting to try something new to see if it works better than what you are currently doing.  Also, some of my college friends went in with me to purchase a skincare product for another college friend of ours - and she had phenomenal results with it.  So you never know.

I won't bore you with the details, but if I remember I'll let you know if I decide to cancel the automatic subscription that they do with every order or if I decide it's worth the price.  It smells good and it feels good on my hair and scalp.  But shhh!! - I didn't tell my husband (not that he needs to be informed of every purchase I make; we aren't like that and I don't often spend money on myself anyway) and one my tests will be to see if he notices.

In other news, I am thankful to God for antibiotics that fix childrens' ear infections, and new pacifiers that can easily be bought when you lose one somewhere at the doctor's office (no way I'm going back for that - yuck!).  And the fact that pacifiers work so well - it's truly a blessing for this family!  And I am thankful for my emotions and sensitivity which have been such a blessing when my mini-me daughter experiences sadness for no apparent reason.  She might just be less emotional than I was, but I think my understanding really does help her to get over those little bouts quickly and with very few tears and worries.  God is good like that.  He really does take things that don't seem good and use them for good in so many ways.

We entered the chess season last month and this month pretty much leaves me as a chess widow.  3 Saturdays of chess, with one weekend in between where we have a wedding to go to.  So this time of year often feels like I work 6 days a week instead of "officially" 5 as a full-time sort of single parent.  Today, the house is much louder than usual, though, since Daddy isn't working from home, and the extra noise is fine to me since they are having so much fun and it isn't waking James from his nap.  Unfortunately, the weather these past few days has been bitterly cold, so sending them out to play isn't an option.  But that's okay because I plan on doing mostly nothing today except enjoy them and let them enjoy themselves.

So, that's my rambling for today. It's nice to be back to blogging again, although I am scared to say it since I could easily fall off the blogging face of the world again at anytime.  Ah, well.  Such is the life of this mother!  (And I do love my life!)

A Story Written by Luke

Slimy Monster

 By Luke, age 4 1/2

 

Once upon a time, there was a sad monster that didn’t have any friends or any toys.  And he didn’t have any moms.  And he liked to eat boogers but his mom said he couldn’t eat boogers because they were yucky.  But he said, “But I like eating boogers.”

But his mom said, “But boogers are yucky and there are chemicals in it.”

The sad monster thought his mom went away from him because it didn’t want to tell him that boogers were yucky because he already told him.

The End

Resume Revelations

As one aspect of my work job, I filter applications for writing positions. I don't really mind it as I find it interesting to see what people these days are being taught about what is important to list on a resume.  And what kind of writing samples are appropriate for submission.  Unfortunately, they are just about as exciting as ever.  But everyone once a while I will be surprised with a tidbit of information that I'm sure wasn't meant to be found or, in some cases, errors of gross proofreading neglect for such a position.

Keeping all things completely anonymous, I have to share some of these things.  Let me first say, I feel badly if any of the people who apply need a job so desperately that they send in their materials even though they do not have the necessary qualifications.  The fact that is it a real possibility in the continuing bad economy makes me feel terrible.  At the same time, I have to make sure that qualified people are selected. In the end, if I let my emotions get in the way and allow unqualified people to take on these roles, no one will be happy - including them - as the job won't get done right.  (How's that for proper English?  How about "The job won't be completed correctly"?)

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know it all about grammar and mechanics, especially the correct time and place for a comma.  I love commas.  They are dear to me - the correctly placed comma makes things flow just right and a poorly placed or unnecessary comma makes the entire written work unreadable to me - even if the content is excellent.

But it is my job to look out for errors as I read through the applications and I find so many elementary errors.  Spell check, people!  Use spell check BEFORE you submit ANYTHING!!  Don't switch tenses back and forth and don't use all caps or bold text when you are writing what degree you have.  To be honest, your educational degree doesn't truly indicate how well you can put thought into words in a way that flows and is informative and enjoyable for the reader (at least for our general readership).  So don't bother emphasizing it - I will see it.

If you share that you blog and invite me to visit it (and you should, if you note that you blog, otherwise what's the point?), then make sure that your blog content is appropriate.  One applicant sent me to her blog where she had posted (and also published on some generally unknown internet website) all about what she wanted to do, ahem, intimately, in no uncertain terms, with a well-known athlete who professes his Christianity.  Totally inappropriate and completely unprofessional.  How is that "good writing?"  It doesn't matter to me how crisp and polished it may seem to be, if the content is not good, then it isn't an example of good writing.  Internationally recognized authors write beautiful poetry and prose about things as simple as trees!  Mud is beautiful, especially if you can capture its beauty with words.  But there is a time and place and audience for things.  And I think, at least I hope, that mud is more valuable to people than one person's fantasizing about things no one else but God and a priest should know about.

Oops.  Off the soapbox.  Sorry about that.

Last night I was reviewing a resume and it didn't give me enough pertinent information, which is actually quite common, believe it or not.  So I did some research and the first thing that pops up is an arrest record and a mugshot from a few years back.  In and of itself, this is not necessarily a reason for dismissing the application - the what, why, when and how of the incident(s) matter and will require further looking into before further consideration.  Because there were a few questions I still had (unrelated to the criminal history), I looked at what the applicant noted as a current career on the resume, which was in a team office.  Looking at the staff listings, this person's name was not there at all. It, too, would have required further inquiry - but then I received word that the application was to be disregarded.  Whew!  I love a good mystery, but I don't really feel comfortable going on a fact-finding mission of that nature.

So there is a glimpse of one aspect of my job and the interesting things I learn from applications.  It adds a new kind of intrigue to my job.  And if nothing else, it also gave me a subject for a blog post!

And I apologize for all grammatical and mechanical errors.  Especially for any misused commas.

Words of Wisdom from St. Frances de Sales

The everlasting God has

in His wisdom foreseen

from eternity the cross

that He now presents to you

as a gift from His inmost heart.

This cross He now sends you

He has considered with His all-knowing eyes,

understood with His divine mind,

tested with His wise justice,

warmed with loving arms

and weighed with His own hands

to see that it be not one inch too large

and not one ounce too heavy for you.

He has blessed it with His holy Name,

anointed it with His consolation,

taken one last glance at you

and your courage,

and then sent it to you from heaven,

a special greeting from God to you,

an alms of the all-merciful love of God.