Ten Facts

First Dance

Betty Beguiles wrote ten neat things about her and her husband, and I thought I’d play along.

1. I was dating someone else when we met, which he did not know.  Nor do I think he cared.  He told me later he knew he’d marry me the moment he saw me.  We were already married when he revealed this, so I am pretty sure it wasn’t a line.
2. He once asked me why I wanted to be a teacher, and after hearing my lofty reasons, he said, “I want you to teach my children.”  I answered, “Well, you’d better live close by, then,” and he answered, “I want to live the next pillow over.”  After an awkward silence (remember the guy I mentioned in #1? He was still in the picture…), I changed the subject.  (I now homeschool our two daughters.)
3. Before we were dating, we would get together nearly every day to do stuff.  We’d go to dinner and movies, go dancing at Pleasure Island (Disney World), hang out constantly and listen to CD’s, etc.  I think I was the only one who didn’t think we were dating at the time.  He was very patient and kept waiting for his chance to ask  me out.
4. When he finally got up the courage to ask me out, I said no.  I said that he was my best friend (still is!) and that I couldn’t date him because of that.  He told me he couldn’t stand to be near me any more, but relented to go see Dances with Wolves when it was released.  During the movie, I suddenly found myself holding his hand.  He stuck it out, and within about two weeks, I’d dumped the guy in NJ and started dating the man I’d marry.
5. We knew we were going to get married, and we talked about stuff that most people would think was really weird.  We talked about children, spanking, bank accounts, what kind of school the kids would go to, how many we’d like to have, etc.  Very strange, but things we knew we’d need to work out somehow if we were going to spend our life together.
6. Even though I do the laundry, he irons all his own stuff.  I am pretty sure he knows I could do it (and well), but he just does it without complaint.  I think that’s awesome.
7. He neither writes me songs or buys me flowers.  But our running joke is that I will buy flowers at the store, call him up upon arriving home, and say, “Oh, thank you for the pretty flowers!”  I figure he earned all the money to buy them, so they’re from him.  I used to pout about the no-flower-buying until I realized that was silly – I know he loves me, and I don’t need him to bring home flowers to prove it.  (Heck, the ironing is better, as far as I’m concerned.)
8. He always wanted sons, but has two girls.  I knew he’d make a terrific father to girls, though.  And his daughters think he hangs the moon and the stars.
9. I think he does, too.
10. This August, we’ll be married 18 years, and as of December of this year, we’ll be together for 21.  That’s more than half my life now.  And it gets better every year.

Still Happy

You Charmer, You!

Esther gave me a very nice award.  :)  I’ve been very bad about responding to these lately, but I feel guilty (Catholics do guilt very well), so I’m going to try to pass this on.  I’ll be adding the picture to the sidebar ASAP.

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

Well!  Who to pick?  Let’s try this list out.

1. Jennifer at Conversion Diary 
2. Julie at Happy Catholic
3. The Anchoress, as if she would read my blog!  ROFL!
4. The Raving Theist, who deserves something big for his big decision.  (Maybe I should get him a picture with something manly in it, like gears or power tools or football players or something.)
5. The Crescat, for having the flat-out best Catholic eye candy out there!
6. Christina, the Hot Carmel Sundae, even if her posts are fewer these days
7. Faith and Country, for consistently beautiful photography (check out the recent winter-blues-beating garden pictures!)
8. Stacey at Housewife in Flip-Flops, because not much beats her stories about Ace for a good humor break

Seven Quick Takes

Is it Friday already?  Time for Seven Quick Takes, hosted generously at Conversion Diary.

~one~

I blogged earlier about how having a schedule helps me stay on track and accomplish more.  I’d forgotten how much I really need a list to get things done.  Now I need to work on getting the list in front of me here, at the computer, so when I’m finished with work, I’m less tempted to stay online and fool around.

~two~

Which reminds me of this: I have a long way to go to be a better mother, to get where I want to be.  I have a tendancy to be very selfish with my time, wishing for more “alone” and “for me” time than my schedule and responsibilities really allow for.  Everything around us tells us that we need to have XYZ for ourselves.  ”Your needs shouldn’t be put aside!” culture tells us at every turn.  But that is completely the opposite of what God asks us.  Again and again, Christ tells us to put our needs last, not first.  

~three~

And that brings me to what I hope will help me.  I have ordered a copy of In Imitation of Mary.  Travel Man read In Imitation of Christ and found it to be quite the humbling experience.  I’m sure that I am nowhere near where I ought to be, let alone at the point where I resemble the most perfect creature in the history of Mankind!  So I anticipate some very painful humbling.  I’m ready for that two-by-four, Lord.  Sock it to me!

~four~

And I know … be careful what you wish for.  But I really do wish for this, to become more like the Blessed Mother.  Our Lady has so much to teach me, and I’ve really felt her reaching to me recently.  Whenever I pray the Rosary, I find myself thinking, “What can Mary teach me through this Mystery?”  (And, admittedly, it is not often enough.  I need to stop putting it off each day.)  I’ve actually learned a lot and found new things to meditate on when I approach the Rosary in this way.  Let’s face it, I’ve been praying the Rosary, off and on, for more than 30 years.  Seeing something new is a wonderful way to renew my love of this beautiful prayer.  

As an example, with the Joyful Mysteries, when I contemplate the Annunciation, I think about Mary’s obedience to God.  She had absolute trust in God and that He would provide for her.  There was no question from the Blessed Mother about what would anyone do to her if they discovered her unmarried and pregnant.  No question about if she’d be safe, or if Joseph would still take her in as his wife.  No question about any of those things.  Nor did she hesitate, except to wonder how it was going to happen that she, a consescrated virgin (scroll down to “Presentation of Mary”), would have a baby.  ”How can this be?” she asks.  This is the kind of trust I must strive for with God.  This is what Mary wants me to learn from her when I contemplate this Mystery.  I can do this with nearly every one of the Mysteries of the Rosary, and it’s a process through which I can learn quite a bit.

~five~

Jennifer mentions the funny images on the cat food bag at her mother’s house here.  I have had questions about pet food, too.  How do the people making the food know it’s delicious and juicy?  Do they have testers who try it and report back?  And how bad is your life if you are the guy who eats cat food and dog food to try out the tastiness and juiciness of the different formulas?

~six~

Speaking of pets, our hopes for killing off the chipmunk population by getting a cat have been dashed.  While visiting my grandmother, Big Girl suddenly came down with a very nasty cold that suddenly disappeared the morning we left again and were about an hour away.  The only thing I could think of was that she was playing with Nana’s kitty.  A lot.  So we are pretty sure that Big Girl is allergic to cats.  Bummer.  I’ll have to work on my death-looks more and see if I can’t kill the stupid pests by staring at them really hard.  So far I haven’t had luck with this method, but I’ll let you know if it works.

~seven~

Little Girl’s dance recital date has been announced, which means that we’re going to try to get her First Communion date set up to be the same weekend.  Her big wish is for the family she loves to be able to come and see her perform in the end-of-year show.  Hopefully, not too many of the other kids want the same date, since it’s all scheduled so that no more than two or three children receive at the same Mass.  But I’m looking forward to searching for her First Communion dress.  If Big Girl’s dress doesn’t fit (and this is the ideal to the girls – to share the dress), we’ll hit the stores in late March and see what we can find.  

When she thinks about it, Little Girl actually vibrates with happiness.  It’s really a sight to see.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have a super weekend, everyone.  God bless!

Seven Random Thoughts

I’ve got a little time before I bake my next batch of cookies for the parish’s New Year’s Eve party (after the Vigil Mass for tomorrow’s Holy Day of Obligation), so I thought I’d play along with Jennifer in preparation for Friday’s seven random thoughts meme.

One:

I have taken a big break from the heaviest of our school subjects since Advent, which always makes it hard to get back in the groove of things.  However, I have an outline for what I want to do, especially the literature we’re starting in January.  I’ll post more details as I get more details planned.  ;)  But we’re looking to have some fun with Broadway musicals, Google Earth, and world explorers.

Two:

There was quite a flurry of business for me when I was working before Christmas.  But I was successful in my work, and managed to make some nice bonuses that went towards a couple of nifty gifty items for Travel Man and myself.  Camera for me, Tom Tom for him, and maybe a movie out for the girly-kins.  I want to see Despereaux, but we’re still reading it, so we can’t go yet.  Maybe Bolt.

Three:

Which reminds me.  What a phenomenal year it has been for family movies!  Usually, we can see everything we want to take the girls to in a year, even though we usually only go to the movies with them two or three times per year.  But this year, we missed Kit Kitteridge, Horton Hears a Who, Kung-Fu Panda, and more.  We did see WALL-E with them (Travel Man posted about it here), and we might be lucky enough to see Bolt and Despereaux, but there is just as good a chance that we will miss one of those.  I’ve seen reviews for Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler that say it’s a great kids’ movie that lacks those not-always-subtle sex jokes.  So thank you, Hollywood, for inundating us with movies that we actually want to take the kids to see!  I hope they were rewarded by those who could afford to go out a lot.  We’ll reward them with rentals and/or purchases.  (Heck, we have two copies of WALL-E, but the girls don’t like when I tell the story of why.)

Four:

Now that we are in the middle of the Christmas season and the new year is starting up, I realize that our regular crazy schedule will be underway soon.  Starting Monday, Little Girl starts dance again.  Tuesday is the first basketball practice, with games on Saturdays.  Story time at the library will be starting up, too.  I’ve got activities with Respect Life (like the Fight FOCA campaign and a quarterly baby shower for Catholic Charities).  Travel Man will don his super suit again as basketball season comes to a close.  School lessons will start again in earnest.  And Little Girl will start preparation for First Holy Communion!  Somewhere in there, I’m still going to be working 20 hours a week.  Whew.  Did I mention co-op is starting again, and I want to read some Shakespeare with the 5th through 7th graders?  Yeah, I need a copy of “Comedy of Errors.”  And I wonder where the year went.

Five:

Speaking of where the year went, this year has flown by.  If you know how that happened, please inform me.  I’m clueless.  Suddenly I’m the mother of a ten year old and a seven year old.  I pick up pictures of the girls sitting on Santa’s lap from the parish brunch, and I get some picture of these BIG girls that look a bit like my own little ones.  I think the camera is wonky or something, but the photographer insists it works fine.  

Whatever.

Six:

And more on this year.  There have been a lot of changes for our family.  I’ve blogged about our Dave Ramsey plan before, and I cannot tell you just how much it has changed our lives.  One year ago, I wasn’t sure how we’d make it.  We needed to sell that van.  We needed to pay off some serious debt.  And I’d just gotten out of the hospital and knew I had about $3000 worth of medical bills coming my way.  Throughout the year, the Soccer Mobile has needed more than $2000 worth of repairs, our family computer died, we took trips to Texas and South Carolina and South Dakota, and I started a business, with start-up costs that meant I didn’t really see profit until July.  In spite of this, we managed to pay off an obscenely large amount of money, about half of which was taken care of by selling my van.  We have one large piece of debt left, which we moved from our credit card company to our credit union, and our two mortgages.  God willing, we think we might be able to pay off that last non-home debt by around this time next year.  If you told me that was possible a year ago, I’d have laughed in your face.  

If you are in financial crisis, look at Dave Ramsey’s site and get a hold of The Total Money Makeover.  We’ve made sacrifices, but the girls are still in dance and sports, and we still took our family vacations.  Biggest difference is that I started my business, which is helping keep those things going.  But you can do it.

Seven:

Christmas is not over yet.  I am still wishing people Merry Christmas!  This season will last until the Epiphany, January 6.  These are the twelve days that you were singing about!  

If you are unfamiliar with the concept, you can read more about the Christmas season here and here.  One nice thing about being Catholic is that I know all those decorations are not “just for one day.”  Christmas is nearly two weeks long!  Not as long as Easter (which lasts 50 days), but still … Being Catholic really enhances your understanding of this time of year.  Our joy and excitement over Christmas was made more so by our Jesse Tree readings.  And our happiness about the season will continue right through Epiphany, when Travel Man will bless our home and inscribe a blessing over each doorway of our home.

Special Ornament

Carolina Cannonball asked about ornaments with sentimental value.  I’ve got one for sure.

When I was somewhere in the neighborhood of five years old, my grandmother made an ornament for me.  It’s a little angel, and I’ve kept it all these years.  Most of the time, if anyone else hung it, I’d freak out.  It’s my ornament, dang it!  

I let Travel Man hang it up this year, though, so she’d be nice and high.

I commented last night that I wondered if my grandmother would have known or even guessed that I would have kept that little angel all these years.  She’s now more than 30 years old!

I’ve got a lot of other ornaments on the tree from my childhood, but that one is my favorite.  Nanny made it for me, you see.

Book Worm Meme

Jean tagged me for this.  I can play, but I’ll leave a somewhat open tag at the end because I am swamped.  

************

The Rules:
Pass this on to 5 blogging friends. Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56. Write the 5th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following that.

************

Okay.  Here goes with the quote.  It’s from my Bible, which happens to be the closest book that isn’t a product guide for software.  (Those aren’t really books.)  If I would have had to turn around, I think I might have come up with schoolbooks, as there is a shelf full of them behind me.  LOL!  New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition:

“Bring them to me,” said his father, “that I may bless them.”  (Now Israel’s eyes were dimmed from age and he could not see well.)  When Joseph brought his sons to him, he kissed and embraced them.  Then Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your descendants as well!”

Joseph removed them from his father’s knees and bowed down before him with his face to the ground.  Then Joseph took the two, Ephraim with his right hand, to Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand to Israel’s right, and led them to him.

(Genesis 48: 9b-13 – link is Douay-Rheims)

Now for that semi-open tag.  I tag anyone who is going to be participating in the National Night of Prayer for Life on the night of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Remember to leave a link to your post (not just the main blog link) in the com boxes below.

6th Picture, Again

Sarah used her sixth event in iPhoto, and I hadn’t even thought of that.  Hmmm…I’ll do that AND my 6th from 6th on MobileMe.

iPhoto:

MobileMe:

6th Picture, 6th Folder

This looked like fun!  Leave a link if you want to play, too.

Look at the sixth picture in the sixth folder and post it on your blog.  Here’s mine:

hmmmm… Looks like Big Girl had a hold of the camera, huh?  

Hat tip: Amy (Knit Together)

Four Things Meme

Mom sent this to me in e-mail, but I’m turning it into a meme.  

Just 4 things…each
 
A) 4 places I go to over and over: 

  church, Wal-Mart, sports practice, dance 

(okay, so I don’t GO to sports and dance, but I’m driving those who do) 

 

 B) 4 people who e-mail me most regularly:

   Mom, Denise (my sister), Dad, Soccer Dad/Travel Man

  

C) 4 of my favorite places to eat: 

   home (really!), Mama Maria’s (local place), KFC, Outback (or any steakhouse) 

 

D) 4 places I would rather be right now: 

  with Soccer Dad/Travel Man, on vacation in Rome, visiting far-away family, 

 

E) 4 people I think will respond:

   Stacey, Barb, Heather, Sarah

  

F) 4 TV shows I watch over & over:

   The Office, House, Sarah Conner Chronicles, Heroes

 

Consider yourself tagged if I mentioned you in (E)!  Remember to leave a link in the combox to your post.

Quirks Meme

Julie, the famously Happy Catholic, has tagged me for a meme!  I’m pausing from mowing my behemoth front lawn for a moment (lest I have heart failure) and thought I’d give it a whirl.  I’ve done quirky memes before, but I thought I’d stretch and see if I can’t come up with something new to say.  First, the rules:

1. Link the person(s) who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Okay, then.  Let’s play.

1. I am a horrible procrastinator.  (As if I actually needed to say that after mentioning that I’m in the middle of mowing the lawn!)  Part of this derives, I’ve discovered, from my need to do things just so, and feeling that I have to give myself LOTS of time to do it.  Part of it also derives from the fact that I’m basically lazy and kind of wish that a magic fairy would come and do my tasks for me.  When I was a girl, I envied Snow White for her woodland-friend-helpers.  ”Why can’t I get a bunch of cute bunnies and squirrels to help me clean my room?!?”
2. I have this need to feel accepted and approved.  Since I’m already kind of shy (as in, I am very scared to talk to people I don’t know well, especially when I have no one near me to help me feel brave), if I feel as though I’m being shunned for something I’ve said or done, I get very down.  Call it insecurity or vanity (“It has to be something about me, right?”), I tend to take everything – and I mean everything – personally.
3. I am also, oddly enough, not very good at accepting compliments.  I’ve had to learn to do it right; that is, to say, “Thank you,” and shut up.  No one likes to dole out a compliment and be told they are wrong.  
4. I’ve already admitted to strange sleeping habits.  (We all know that the only way to protect yourself from monsters is to be under a blanket up to the neck and not to let any body part hang over the side where something can grab you!)  But I have also discovered, thanks to Soccer Dad, that I have a funny quirk.  When I roll over, it is ALWAYS in the same direction.  I couldn’t tell you which, but it’s always the same.  Even if it means a 3/4 turn to get to my side.  I wonder if I’d roll the opposite way in Australia.
5. When reading online, I click and highlight like crazy.  Word, line, paragraph.  Word, line, paragraph.  Click and drag.  Read in the highlight.  Read out of the highlight.  Highlight the part I’m going to read next.  Click, click, click.  Word, paragraph…  Oops!  I missed the line.  Start over.  It makes my husband absolutely insane to watch me, and I am forbidden to touch the mouse if I make him read something on my monitor.  
6. I have also admitted plenty of times that I can’t stand bugs.  Anything with more than four legs is NOT my friend, and I don’t care if a housekeeping spider eats other bugs it has to do so outside where all the bugs ought to live and stay away from me completely.  Have I ever mentioned that I also have a serious problem even touching a picture of a bug?  (All of this amounts to my family being stunned into momentary silence when I announced that I would do a unit on insects with the girls and look into an ant farm.)  But, yes, bug pictures are really icky.  I don’t want to touch them.  Creepy … *shudder*

Okay, that’s all for me, folks.  I can’t think of six people who haven’t played, so I will tag anyone who is reading this who has ever had a pet spider (or a brother or sister who had one).  In addition, if you had a pet that had to eat live bugs, you can play, too.  (My niece, for example, has had an African Fat-Tailed Gecko that likes live crickets.  I love that girl so much that I actually BOUGHT 25 LIVE CRICKETS FOR HER AND TRANSPORTED THEM IN MY CAR.  I am certain that I got out of Purgatorial time on that day.)  So if you’re a crazy bug-lover, here’s your chance to gross me out.

Bring it on.

 

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