Burning the Candle at Both Ends

Expect the Unexpected

When will I learn to expect the unexpected. Whenever there is too much to be done, it never fails that something completely out of my control occurs which absolutely must be dealt with. All those "important" things to be done take a back seat to these unexpected events. So today, just two days before Thomas is to be ringbearer at his godmother's wedding and Hannah, the flower girl... he runs through the family room and catches his toe on the metal edge of the base board heating panel . We are pretty sure no stitches required, but it is an ugly cut which requires lots of extra TLC and for the ringbearer to stay off of his foot as much as he can.  Hannah suddenly came down with a rather nasty sounding wheeze yesterday.  We had just had alot of rain and with the change of seasons, it doesn't take much to set her off. This  required a trip to the Dr. and now four nebulizer treatments per day, plus cortisone by mouth twice a day. Praying they're both on the road to recovery by Saturday morning!

                                               

(Read the other daybook entries at The Simple Woman )

For Today,   October 27, 2008

 Outside My Window... daylight is just breaking

I am thinking... I should hit the ground running this week . There is much, too much, to be done.

I am thankful for... many things. Particularly my husband’s supervisor who had the compassion  to give him today off after spending all day Sunday into the night working.  I don’t like when our family misses Sundays together. I am also thankful for my older daughters who helped pick up some of the driving responsibilities that I couldn’t possibly have done on my own.

From the kitchen… I want to prepare some food ahead of time for houseguests who begin arriving on Thursday.

I am wearing... Still in my pj’s

I am creating... a plan in my mind to get in shape for my oldest daughter’s wedding. Hopefully it doesn’t just stay in my mind and I can finally accomplish my weight loss and healthier living goals.

I am going... shopping for dresses for my thirteen year-old to wear to her cousin’s wedding this Saturday.

I am reading... nothing for myself at the moment. Thomas and I are reading Hardy Boys books. Does that count?

I am hoping...  for nice weather for my niece’s wedding Saturday.

I am hearing... the sound of fresh coffee gently perking on the stove.

Around the house... someone has woken up and turned on the television without asking

One of my favorite things...  waking up to a sink with no dishes.  Alas,  there was apparently some ice cream eating happening last night after I went to bed with a shiny sink!

A Few Plans for The Rest of the Week:  We will take it easy on the school work so that preparations for the weekend do not cause too much added stress.  Instead of school we will call it  “Hospitality101”,  as I will be instructing the children on  all that goes into having houseguests: cleaning; changing linens; food planning and preparation;  sharing toys and bedrooms. I’m sure more teachable moment s will present themselves as the week goes on.  Also, since Thomas and Hannah are to be the ring bearer and flower girl at their cousin’s wedding, we will have to address conversation skills, manners and the like, since they will be getting more  attention at the wedding they might not otherwise have received.

Here is picture thought I am sharing.

                               

This is Thomas all decked out in his ribbons and medals he won at Sunday's track meet. I have been informed that we need to put up a shelf in his room for all the awards he has won and plans to win in the future!

Thank God for Courageous Bishops!

Cardinal Egan of the great Archidiocese of New York has written a letter explaining, much more eloquently than I could have (and attempted to)   the case against abortion in such a simple and sincere way...only the most cold-hearted could read his letter and not get why so many of us use this one issue as our compass in pointing us to our choices in the polling booth in just a few short days. Please take a minute and read this !

Thanks to the courage and honesty of Bishops, like Egan, I just saw a poll last night which put McCain ahead with Catholic voters by 9%.  Just recently, with the same group, he was down by 11 points!  I think our church leadership is finally having an impact and successfully leading us in truth and love!  If Obama gets the White House, I will find some consolation if Catholics were not completely instrumental in putting him there!

(This is a photo of an unborn baby at 20 weeks!)

A little levity for the weekend

A friend sent me this funny one via email...

Sarah Palin is invited to meet with the Pope while he   is
vacationing north of Rome in Venice.

 The liberal press reluctantly watches the semi-private  audience,
hoping they will be able to allot minimal coverage, if  any.

 The Pope asks Governor Palin to join him on a Gondola  ride through
 the canals of Venice. They're admiring the sights and agreeing on
moral  issues when, all   of a sudden, the Pope's hat (zucchetto)
blows off  his head and out into the water.

 The gondolier starts to reach for the Pontiff's  cap with his pole,
 but this move threatens to overturn the floating  craft.  Sarah
waves the tour guide off, saying, "Wait,  wait. I'll take care   of
this. Don't worry."    She steps out of the gondola onto the surface
of the  water and walks   out to the Pope's hat, bends over and picks
it up.   She walks back   across the water to the gondola and steps
aboard.   She hands the hat to the Pope amid stunned silence.

 The next morning the topic of conversation among  Democrats in
Congress, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, CNN, the New  York Times,
Hollywood celebrities, and in France and Germany is:

 "Palin Can't Swim."

Frosty Friday

 

I knew it was going to get cold last night, but I wasn't expecting to have to scrape the frost off the car this morning!  This is a great day to read one of our favorite fall books !

Halloween Rants

  I never thought that as an adult I would be one of those "grown-ups" waxing nostalgic for the good old days. But here I am, at Halloween time wondering...what the heck happened???  Halloween is no longer a children's holiday for fun and pranks,  candy and apples, and games and parties.  Oh, yes it's still about the parties,just not for the kids anymore.

First, allow me to indulge in my own personal nostalgia for a moment.  As one of seven children, Halloween was a fun time for sibling bonding and revelry.  We got home from school and immediately dashed upstairs to don our best costumes. These usually consisted of the standards.. hobo, scarecrow,  witch.  I guess nowadays, a hobo would be considered rather politically incorrect, but back then, it was just plain fun. Usually we would wear one of Dad's shirts, some ripped jeans, and dare I say, one of my brothers would carry an empty beer bottle as a prop. The final touch was when dad singed the end of a piece of cork and (when it cooled) rubbed black on our faces to give us that classic hobo unshaven look.  It was all in good fun.. and of course we were more concerned with filling our pillowcases with as much candy as we could collect before dinner, than with political correctness, anyway.  Most years, Mom would make a big pot of spaghetti and meatballs and we would return home at the appointed time and wolf down a bowl of spaghetti, empty our sacks of loot, and try and squeeze in another hour or so of trick-or-treating. Pity the poor child whose killjoy of a teacher assigned homework on this  most sacred of nights in a kid's world! Around seven o'clock, all the neighborhood would gather at our house for the Halloween party.  This usually consisted of swapping candy, counting the loose change at the bottom of our pillowcases, bobbing for apples, and possibly a ghost story, told in our basement, where we made some attempt at turning it into a haunted house..  Somewhere around eightish, the boys would disappear with eggs and shaving cream, only to return an  hour later doused with the stuff!  My mom would always act all annoyed, but I think secretly, she loved to see them having such a blast. Mind you, this was not vandalism.. it was boys being boys and the mess mainly stayed on the pavement and on them! The good old days!

Now, back to the present.  I used to enjoy Halloween with my children. We never went "over-the-top" with it all; I tried to keep the tradition similar to what I grew up with back in the day... good, clean fun.  Over the past several years this day has taken on a disturbing trend which, for me is really sapping the fun out of it.  A few cases in point:

1.  Kids don't really go trick -or- treating anymore. It's not safe, so they say. Schools, libraries and villages have coralled the kiddies into safe Halloween parties, and those of us who accompany our children door-to-door are made to feel like negligent parents!  I will still accompany my children around the neighborhood this year.. dressed in their costumes, begging for candy. We won't be the only ones, but the numbers of cute little witches and goblins dwindles every year.  I'm all for a safe Halloween, but I think with common sense, I am perfectly capable of providing that on my own, thank you.

2. The costumes (here comes the rant)... It is time for adults to "grow up"! Why have they taken this day away from the children?  I recently got a circular in the paper for a party store with all their Halloween items. Literally the first four (out of five) pages were adult costumes. By adult, I am talking about women in costumes that... well to put it as nicely as I can... seem to cater more to male fantasy, than to anything remotely spooky, or traditionally Halloween-y!  FInally on the last page were the children's costumes; and I use the word children lightly. Many of these were smaller versions of what appeared on the first four pages of the circular!  One store actually carried a size 4T French maid's costume. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't actually seen it!  4T!!!!  What the heck???? Many of the tween size costumes come complete with fishnet stockings. What??  Which parents are buying these costumes for their daughters?  I would rather parade my daughter around the neighborhood, dressed as a fairy or a witch and carefully check her candy with her, than drop her off at a "safe" Halloween party dressed like something straight off  the pages of Maxim magazine!!!

3. FInally... more "costumes".  There are a plethora of ways to accessorize your costume. How about some stiletto heels to go with those fishnet stockings for your 10-year-old?  But truly, one of the most offensive accessories was found amid the latex pieces you could attach to yourself... a witch's nose and chin, vampire bitemarks on your neck. These were very realistic, and even professional looking. What jumped out at me was the latex slashed wrist stick-ons.  I missed the part where suicidal people became something to "dress up" as.  Who would find this appropriate?  A video tutorial was playing showing how easily one could apply some of these latex pieces (thankfully, not the slashed wrists!). They even showed a child of about the age of ten or so, with latex gashes all over her face! YUK! This is not Halloween.. I don't know what it is... but it is just wrong!

I could go on... I haven't even touched on the demonic aspect of many of the costumes.  Dressing your child up as some creature that would frighten the daylights out of Satan himself... not for me.  What about the haunted houses which are popping up all over the place.  You pay to be chased around by someone with a chainsaw.  The best haunted houses are the ones where you pay, but are so "scary" many people are too frightened to complete the tour.  Not at all like the haunted house we sometimes turned our basement into on Halloween night... Once again, catering to the adults, not the children.

Well, my rant is almost over. I think I need to learn how to sew before next Halloween so I can get working on that scarecrow costume!  Tune in sometime during Advent for my Christmas rant... I am going to start on my first draft of that right after the last piece of Halloween candy is eaten!

In the meantime... try and have a happy, safe , and FUN Halloween!

 

(after reading about my exciting day, be sure and check out the other daybooks over at Peggy's)

... FOR TODAY October 20, 2008...

Outside My Window...

It is a crisp, sunny fall morning. The temperature is 47 degrees and holding, although the forecast says it will go up to 59.  I have my doubts.

I am thinking...

I need to go grocery shopping and  pay my bills.

I am thankful for...

The beautiful weather and a chance to enjoy it doing some fall yard cleanup this afternoon.

From the kitchen...

Not a lot at the moment.  Dinner tonight will be breaded boneless chicken thighs with something on the side which I have yet to dream up.

I am wearing...

Jeans, comfy shoes and a crewneck sweater.

I am creating..

A home that my family looks forward to coming home to after a day out in the world.    It is a work in progress!

     I am going…

Costco shopping… if I make a solemn promise to stick to my list!

I am reading

Some of my home school motivational books.

Do I already need motivating???  It’s still October!

I am hoping...

That my reading inspires me in my schooling of the children.

I am hearing...

The dehumidifier which is supposed to be drying out our carpet where some water spilled, leaving behind an unpleasant aroma.

Around the house...

The lovely odor of musty carpet is starting to dissipate, so maybe, just maybe the dehumidifier is working???

One of my favorite things...

Wearing sweaters when the weather suddenly gets chilly.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Track practice, pre-cana, yard work, dance class, play date with Hannah’s friend.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

 We fired up this baby for a test run this weekend. I can't wait 'til the weather turns cold for good. We will keep the whole house cozy with this woodstove all winter!

Enough Said

Funny Stuff...

(Check out other wonderful daybook entries at The Simple Woman)

FOR TODAY

 October 13, 2008

Outside My Window...

It is cloudy with a threat of rain

I am thinking...

How I would love a rainy day to be able to stay inside and catch up

I am thankful for...

My husband who is preparing a breakfast feast

From the kitchen...

Breakfast of waffles and sausage is being prepared… thoughts of baking some cookies and homemade granola later today

I am wearing...

A gold t-shirt and grey Capri sweats

I am creating...

Many mental lists of the things to get done before a family wedding on 11/1

I am going...

shopping for some winter tops

I am reading...

Can one read a cookbook??? I’ve been trying to add more variety to the menus around here, so I have mostly been skimming my cookbook collection for ideas

I am hoping...

That today will be the day I finally implement my grand idea for an ongoing timeline project

I am hearing...

Clothes tumbling in the dryer, sausage sizzling on a cast iron pan, music on my computer

Around the house...

Oldest daughter getting ready for work, projects galore

One of my favorite things...

Is the change of seasons from summer to fall. I am anticipating firing up the woodstove.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Change over the clothes, prepare several types of soups. Teach pre-cana class.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...